What's Necessary
by sheilacalhoun
Summary: "Go to Brand, Dad." With those words, Joseph Cooper headed out with TARS to find Amelia Brand. Amelia is all alone with CASE on Wolf's planet, mourning over Cooper's sacrifice. Follow the Interstellar crew as they embark on an interstellar mission. (Finished! May fix minute anomalies in story! Please leave a review!)
1. De Brief

**It is recommended that you either watch the movie _Interstellar _or read the novelization for the best understanding -**

Hey! This is my first time publishing any fic... So there are bound to be a lot of mistakes. This is really just to see if I can stick to anything... I really hope this doesn't become a Mary sue... I hope I can continue to dish out chapters! So, if you can bare to stick with me, enjoy! - sheilacalhoun

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN INTERSTELLAR.**

**Note: The chapters may be labeled as "Flashback" or "Dream Sequence" Flashback is the canon flashback of that scene. Dream Sequence is my version or add on of a flashback. And if it is not labeled, it means its just the story.**

**EDIT: Added and deleted a few things. **

* * *

**_-Chapter 1: De-brief -_**

_The Ranger zipped through the wormhole with ease. The newest gen of Rangers were equipped to go near the speed of light by using Murphy Cooper's equation. By using gravity. They were sleek, just like its successor. The Rangers were smaller and more efficient. They were meant for one person and a robot, if so chosen. Containing a cryo-sleep pod and a few other things in them, they were clearly meant for interstellar travel. The amount of resistance the new Rangers gave was little to none when passing through a worm hole. The wormhole opened up and gave way to a strangely familiar view. Millions of bright stars shone in the distance. The one man who had seen this tiny seed of the ever expanding universe was back to the place he had once spent hundreds of years in. He was here again, to find the last part of his generation who still understands him and the struggles they went through. _

"Back again..." The man said, scratching his head.

"Indeed we are, Coop." What looked like a metal obelisk detached from the floor rails.

"TARS, calculate the time to Wolf's planet." TARS started running numbers on his screen. "Even traveling near light speed, I calculate the time to Wolf's planet to be... Six months."

Cooper nodded and walked over to the cyro-sleep bed and opened it up.

"TARS, wake me up when the time to Wolf's planet is about 6 hours." Cooper laid down and closed his eyes. "Sweet dreams Coop."

* * *

"_... Computer says you're too tight." Cooper heard the radio shout. "I got this." His instruments were screaming at him to pull out. He was sweating like a dog under the hot summer sun. "Crossing the straights," Control said. "Shutting it down. Shutting it _all _down." Cooper was wheezing and jittery as hell. "No!" He yelled. "We need to power up-" Spinning like a child's top, black and red, black and red- the controls were ripped from his ha-_

"_-_Easy Cooper."

Cooper jolted up. His vision slowly began to clear up, his mind clearing when he heard TARS voice. After calming down he realized that he was clutching his chest. "Were you dreaming of the cra-" Cooper waved a dismissive hand to his robotic companion. TARS beeped a few times and walked away.

"6 hours till Wolf's planet." Cooper rested his head on the palms of his hands. _This needs to stop. This is ancient history. Stop reliving your old ghosts Coop. Focus on the now..._

Cooper dressed in his suit and sat in the pilots seat. _Technology has advanced so much since then. Relax Coop._ Cooper spent the next few hours, thinking about what the future held."2 hours till landing." TARS computed. "TARS, can you reach CASE at this distance? Let CASE know we are on our way, but do not tell Dr. Brand."

TARS did as he was told. Thankfully, TARS was updated now, thanks to the crew on the Cooper Station. Still the same body and AI settings, but he had more abilities that he did before. He had seen the newer AI, faster and had a more reliable power source. Which raised the question, why did Cooper keep him? He was an outdated model, with years of wear and tear on his casing. The only reason he was able to think like this was because of the updates. TARS is one of a kind. He was the only one that had a humor setting along with other ones. _Temporary settings: Humor setting: 10%. Honesty setting: 90%. Curiosity setting: 70%._

"Cooper, why did you keep me?" Cooper looked over at his partner.

Cooper thought for a second. "Ah, well Slick, you really _are_ one of a kind. Only you understand me and what we have been through. No other AI was going to be able to replace you." Cooper stopped. "Wait. What setting was that on? I don't remember AI being able to do that?" TARS stopped. "The crew on the Cooper Station updated my database, as well as my "Special" settings... I have more abilities than before." _Resume normal parameters. Humor: 75%. Honesty: 90%. Curiosity: 50%. _"Why, did they not update you? You could really use some major tuning." TARS' cue light flashed on. _That's a new one. _"Ahaha, ouch. Nice one TARS."

Cooper put his helmet on and sat back, closing his eyes. _Cooper station... _He had only just seen his daughter before she died. _Murph... _It was because of her that he was on his way to be with Brand. They don't belong in this era. They, Cooper and Brand, are the last two people who can understand what each other had been through.

"_Dad... Leave me." Cooper was a bit hurt by Murphy's words. But he knew there was some other meaning behind them. "I have my own family to be around. And a parent should never see their own child die before them." Cooper began to tear up. He held onto her hand and tried to hold back the wave of regret and remorse. "Go. Go be with her. She needs you." Cooper looked at Murph, confused. "Go be with Brand, dad." _

_His house was on display, like a museum. Cooper saw the familiar silhouette of TARS sitting in the dining room, draped with a blue tarp. "Is that..." The man next to him nodded. "We found him close to you. But his power source was fried. Do you want me to get you another one?" Cooper nodded._

_Cooper sat at the diner table and was messing with TARS settings. "Settings: General Settings. Any extra configurations?" Cooper thought. "Humor." TARS beeped. "Humor setting at: 100%" Cooper grunted. _

"_Take it down to 75%"_

"_Self destruct sequence in 3, 2, 1..."_

"_On second thought, bring it down to 65%."_

"_... Knock Knock."_

"_Do you want 55%?"_

_Cooper took a drink of his beer. "I know that look Cooper. What are you thinking?" He sighed. "I don't belong here, in... _this. _It just doesn't feel right. And Dr. Brand is out there. All alone. I need to go be with her... Like Murph said." _

A thud interrupted Coopers thoughts. He looked around and saw a clay-ish landscape. "We are here. And according to CASE's information, you won't be needing that helmet." TARS read off some simple information about the planet. _I mean... Will she be happy to see me, or angry? What if Wolf is still alive? _"Cooper..." _It is most likely that he is dead, but how would i go about that... _"Cooper!" He jolted back to reality. "What is it, TARS?!" If TARS had a body, Cooper could have sworn TARS had just jumped out of his skin. TARS did the equivalent to clearing his throat. "Well. Are you ready to go surprise an old friend?"

Cooper opened the hatch.

* * *

**So... The _Italicized _text is, if you could tell, were flashbacks. I know they weren't word for word correct, but _I tried. _**

**Any way, till next chapter! Reviews are always appreciated!**


	2. Constant Plague

**\- Chapter 2: Plague**

**Sorry its kinda long... But you will understand in a few. Listen to Detach when you read this~**

* * *

_\- "Right? And for our next trick..."_

_Cooper drew out the words, still a bit woozy from the spin. Nothing like pilot training though. 6 years in the Air Force and F-16 fighter training, he had pulled a max of 9G on Earth. Cooper sat back, letting a small smile creep onto his lips. He took off his helmet and wiped off his forehead, which was drenched in sweat. He started to laugh, his chest heaving from both laughing and relief. _

"_It'll have to be a good one. We're heading into Gargantua's pull-" _

_Cooper's smile fades in an instant. That's even more shit that we have to deal with._

"_Dammit..."_

_He unbuckles from his seat, formulating a plan as he makes his way to the bulkheads._

"_CASE, take her." _

_Cooper starts to close up the bulkheads. _Dammit Mann... That stunt costed us more than we could afford. Think Cooper... Think.

_CASE buzzed in over the radio. "Cooper, we are slipping towards Gargantua, shall I use the main engines?" _

"_NO! Let her slide as long as we can..." _

"_Copy." Cooper slides over to TARS who is welding a bulkhead. _

"_Here, give it to me." _

"_Coop, there's good news and bad news-" Cooper sighs. _

"_TARS, I've heard that one before. Just give it to me straight."_

_Brand finishes checking her equipment, hanging her clipboard on the wall. _Okay, good. Nothing seems to be broken... _Cooper scrambles into the module with a troubled face. _

"_Brand, the navigation mainframe's destroyed and we don't have enough life support to make it back to Earth. But we just might scrape it to Edmunds' planet."_

_Brand stops working and listens to his words, deciding what she would say next very carefully._

"_What about fuel?" _

_Cooper's features changed from worry to a state of urgency._

"_Not enough. But I've got a plan-" _

_When did Cooper _not _have a plan? That was Cooper though, always thinking, never stopping._

"_\- let Gargantua suck us right into her horizon- then a powered slingshot around to launch us at Edmunds." Brand shook her head. _

"_Manually?" _

"_That's what I'm here for. I'll take us just inside the critical orbit."_

"_And the time slippage?"_

_Coopers face hardened. He had clearly thought through this, and had made the decision of going to Wolf's planet over going back to see his kids._

"_... Neither of us can afford to worry about relativity right now."_

"_I-I'm so sorry Cooper."_

_They embrace, gently touching faceplate to faceplate. Amelia knew Cooper was a good man, and he chose the mission over seeing his kids again. She thought back to Miller's planet, and what she had said to him, and what he had said to her. _

_Cooper and TARS were rearranging the remaining Lander and Ranger, their retro rockets making puffs in the empty void. Cooper buzzes in over the radio._

"_Once we've gathered enough speed around Gargantua, we use the Lander 1 and Ranger 2 as rocket-boosters to push us out of the black hole's gravity..." _

_Cooper slides into Ranger 2 to check on the systems. _

"_... The linkages between Landers are destroyed..." _

_TARS attaches onto the Landers rail and slides to the controls, running simulator checks._

"_... So we'll control manually. When Lander 1's spent, TARS will detach-" _

"_And get sucked right into that black hole." TARS finished off the sentence, sounding a bit too peppy._

_Brand stopped, waiting to hear any laughing, any sign of humor. TARS and Cooper had been becoming more and more understanding of each other. It's like they were somehow meant to be together. _

"_Why does he have to de-tach?" _

"_We have to shed mass if we're gonna escape that gravity." TARS intervenes. _

"_Newton's third law- the only way humans have ever figured out of getting somewhere is to leave something behind." _

_Brand's hands start to shake, and her forehead beads with sweat. _

"_Cooper, you can't ask TARS to do this for us-" Cooper buckles his harness. _

"_He's a robot. Amelia- I don't have to _ask _him to do anything." _

_That lights Brand's fuse up._

"_Cooper! You _asshole_!" _

"_Sorry, you broke up a little there..." _

_TARS comes on over the radio. "It's what we intended, Dr. Brand..." TARS connects to the controls, ready._

"_It's our last chance to save people on Earth- if I can find some way to transmit the quantum data I'll find in there, they might still make it." _

_Brand stops to consider this. _

"_If there's someone still there to receive it..." _

_The black hole's gravity made the Endurance start to shudder and creak, its casing trying to tear off and go to the black hole. Brand tightened her harness. All around the ship was absolute blackness. TARS sat there, not moving or saying anything. Brand wondered what he thought about. Sure, he was a robot. But she still could not help but wonder. The ship started to pick up speed, hurtling to the ultimate black mass in front of them. CASE came on over the Endurance's radio._

"_MAXIMUM VELOCITY ACHIEVED... PREPARE TO FIRE ESCAPE THRUSTERS-"_

_TARS checked his instruments for the umpteenth time._

"_Ready."_

_Cooper checks over his instruments as well._

"_Ready."_

_Brand looked out the window at the growing horizon. _How can they be so calm?

_CASE started the count down. _

"_Main engine ignition in three,_

_two,_

_one,_

_mark-"_

_CASE starts the Endurance's main engines. The ship strained against the gravity. _

"_Lander 1 engines, on my mark._

_Three,_

_two,_

_one,_

_mark."_

"_Fire." _

_TARS starts the Lander's engines. The thrust starts to add to the initial speed. The Endurance begins to rise away from the darkness, rattling the crew._

"_Ranger 2's engines, on my mark._

_Three,_

_two,_

_one._

_Mark."_

"_Fire."_

_Cooper hits the button. Ranger 2's engines added a fresh thrust, pushing the Endurance higher and higher... Back into the starlight..._

_Cooper was shaking with the thrust. He looked down at his instruments. He chuckled to himself._

"_That little maneuver cost us fifty-one years!"_

_Brand held on tight to her chair. Suddenly, she thought of something to say._

"_You don't sound so bad for a hundred and twenty!"_

_She could hear him grunt, then she wondered if he was thinking about his family. The ship continued to strain against the gravity. Lander 1's engines died out. CASE started down another countdown._

"_Lander 1, prepare to detach, on my mark..._

_three..._

_Brand looked over at the Lander and saw TARS on his rail._

"_Two..."_

_All of her joy drained when she remembered that TARS had to go._

"_One..."_

"_Mark."_

_TARS beeped and activated the button._

"_Detach."_

_Brand saw the Lander drop, revealing Cooper in the second Ranger._

"_See ya, Slick." _

_TARS chipped into the radio._

"_See you on the other side, Coop."_

_Brand frowned. Something wasn't quite right. What was it..._

_Lander 1 falls behind as the Endurance continues it's ascent. Cooper checked his remaining fuel supply._

"_Hey, CASE? Nice reckless flying." _

"_Learned from the master, Cooper."_

_Ranger 2's engines die. CASE registers the fuel level._

"_Ranger 2, prepare to detach."_

_Brand stopped, trying to take in what CASE had just said. It slowly registered in her brain. Then she screamed._

"_NO!"_

_She tries to unbuckle her harness._

"_On my mark..."_

_She flies over to the window, looking at Cooper. _

"_COOPER, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" _

_CASE continues the count down._

"_Three,"_

_Cooper looked over at Brand._

"_Newton's third law- you have to leave something behind."_

_TARS chimed in._

"_It's what we intended."_

"_Two,"_

_Brand pushes her helmet up to the window. _

"_You _told me _we had enough power-"_

"_One..."_

_Cooper looked over at her fondly, his eyes softening._

"_Hey, we agreed- ninety percent."_

_CASE reaches zero._

"_Mark..."_

_Cooper reached over to the button to detach. He takes one last look at Brand. Inside of her helmet, she was crying, the zero-G making her tears catch in her eyelashes like melted snow. _

_Cooper hits the button. But the word caught in his throat._

"_D-detach."_

_Space and time seemed to slow down, Brand and Cooper held that last moment of eye contact for what seemed to be hours. _

_Ranger 2 dropped away from the Endurance._

_Cooper sees the Endurance accelerate away to a bright speck as he fell faster,_

_and faster,_

_into the black hole's grubby mitts._

_Cooper started to breath faster._

_Cooper tried to get his breathing under control, but was not having much luck. He wanted Brand not to worry. _

_He used the Ranger's retro-rockets to turn the Ranger down, facing the black hole. _

"_T-TARS, are you there?"_

_Static._

_Brand was still crying, listening to Cooper's lonely transmissions._

_Ranger 2 plunges towards the black hole. _

_Cooper's breathing speeds up, getting louder and louder._

_The Ranger starts to get pulled and stretched from the gravity._

_Cooper's breathing gets louder and louder._

_Brand can almost hear a scream in his breath._

_Louder, _

_The light began to encase Cooper._

_Louder, _

_The Ranger was shaking violently._

_Louder- _

_Until it cuts off. _

_Brand stares off into the direction Cooper was, sobbing. She puts her hand to the window and the other to her chest. Tears flowing out of her eyes. _

_The Endurance, with Amelia Brand and CASE, jetted out into the blackness of space._

* * *

Amelia jolted awake, sobbing. Her pillow and hair soaked from her tears and sweat. Brand was plagued with the constant replay of the incident. She couldn't help but always feel guilty that Cooper wasn't able to go back to see his daughter. The ultimate outcome of the event was not what Brand wanted. TARS... Why did TARS _have _to drop? He was special to her, and he had a humor setting. They had engineered TARS to be one of a kind... It's not that she doesn't like CASE... But he just wasn't like TARS. Wolf was dead when she arrived, crushed in his sleep pod from a land slide. And now she was all alone on a foreign planet, without any kind of companion, aside from CASE. Brand started to tear up again, screwing up her face to stop from crying. _If Cooper were here, he would have told me to stop frowning. "It makes your pretty face look sad." _Brand stood up, walked outside and took a deep breath. Gargantua's light slowly started to light up the surface of the planet. There was that one small sliver of hope that he was still alive. Brand hoped every second that if he was alive that he was somehow with Murphy. But that was such a small chance. Nothing could ever escape a black hole, and if it did, there would be nothing left. Brand could not hold back her tears any longer.

"Cooper... I need you..."


	3. A Different Angle

-**Chapter 3: Different Angle - Dream Sequence/ Flashback**

Up to this point, Brand had been on Edmund's planet for 6 months and 12 days, according to CASE. It's a little depressing when CASE says it. Even though he has a vocal variator, it still sounds very monotone. They did a better job on TARS, and obviously TARS was a newer version. The first few months were bearable. Setting up camp, cleaning up the damaged Endurance, taking the small explorations to see the planet they were going to live on.

Brand decided to go out and explore the patch of land to the east. She always had a hard time deciding whether to take CASE with her or leave him to guard the base. There had been no signs of life up to this point, but you can never be too safe.

"CASE, stay here and keep the base running. I'll relay some data to you, so stay on."

Brand was expecting CASE to argue back, saying that it was not the optimal setup, blah blah blah. To her surprise, he stayed silent.

"Affirmative." _That's strange... _Brand gathered her gear and got onto the ATV CASE had assembled from spare parts from the Endurance. CASE was good for many things. He didnt talk much at all, but he could engineer things well. She was slightly mad that Cooper choose TARS to drop into the bla- _Amelia! Stop thinking like that. Cooper and TARS sacrificed themselves so that you could live. _But she did wish that TARS was here. He talked more, and was a kinda like Cooper, in a way. _Cooper... _She had to stop thinking about him. There was nothing else she could do but live and keep the human race going. She had decided to not start the process until later, so she could survey the area and get her self together. Brand suddenly hit a rock and she flew off onto the ground, hitting her head. _S-shit... _She could feel herself slipping away. Just like Cooper had, into the never ending blackness of Gargantua. She couldn't fight it, and just let it take her, letting the gravity pull her away.

_C-Cooper..._

* * *

... "_Doctor Brand. There is someone approaching the perimeter." _

_Brand stopped organising her papers and walked over to where TARS was "standing". _

"_How should I asses the situation, Dr. Brand?" _

"_TARS, go out there and wait. If they try anything, apprehend them. If they walk away, you know what to do."_

_How could anyone find this place? Literally _anyone _who knew of this place was here. She abruptly pulled a chair up and sat down. Who was this person, and how could they find us? Brand opened up her laptop and radioed to TARS._

"_TARS, please share your live feed." _

_The screen displayed static, then a picture of a man with bolt cutters appeared. The man was tall and lanky. He had some scruff on his face, his hands had calluses, clearly from working. He seemed to know what he was doing, but slightly confused as to exactly why he was here. He walked over to the fence._

"_Should I apprehend?" _

_Brand waited to see what the man was going to do. He looked like he was thinking about something, then he slowly lifted the bolt cutters and- _

"_Do it." _

_TARS turned on the spotlights. _

"_STEP AWAY FROM THE FENCE." _

_Brand did not think it was possible for a robot to yell, but then again, that robot was TARS... _

_The man, startled, dropped his cutters and puts his hands in the air. He suddenly has a face of fear, but not for himself. _

"_Don't shoot! My child is in the car-" _

_Brand saw the truck. It was a blue Dodge Ram truck, double wheels on the back. It had all kinds of dents and scratches, not to mention the layers of dust caked on. It looked like one of the tires was flat. What would make that truck so beaten and dusty? What was life like outside of the facility? _

"_-I'm unarmed! My daughter-" _

_TARS tased the man and clunked his way over to the truck. _

"_There is a child in the car, like the man said."_

_Brand stopped TARS._

"_Do not hurt the child. I will be up there to help you."_

"_DO NOT BE AFRAID." _

_The child screamed._

* * *

_Brand walked to the storage room the man was held in. She stopped just short of the door when she heard some arguing between TARS and the man. His voice sounded like he had had years of experience with the outside world._

"_...How did you find us?" _

_The man grunted. _

"_But you don't look like a lawnmower to me... you, I'm gonna turn you into an overqualified vacuum cleaner-" _

_She had to hold her tongue to keep from laughing. _

"_No you are not." Brand took a step into the room, arms folded. The man turns to look at her. _

"_TARS, back down please." _

_The man, as Brand dubbed to be the cowboy, turned to her. "You're taking a risk using ex-military for security. They're old, their control units are unpredictable..." _

_His voice was scruffy, and sounded very, slowly, drawn out. She sighed. "Well, that's what the government could spare." The cowboy seemed to be familiar with machines like TARS. Military robots. Who was he? _

"_Who are you?" he asked, like he was reading her mind. _

"_Dr. Brand." _

_The cowboy stopped. "I knew a Dr. Brand once. But he was a professor-" _

_Brand was a bit offended by this. "What makes you think I'm not?" _

_He laughed a bit. "And nowhere near as cute." _

_She scoffed. "You think you can flirt your way out of this mess?" _

_The cowboy stopped and took a breath. "Dr. Brand, I have no idea what this mess is. I'm scared _

_for my little girl and I want her by my side." _

_He sounded genuinely honest and scared. Good man, cares for his family. "Then I'll tell you anything you want to know. Okay?" _

_Brand stopped and thought for a moment. She turned to TARS and quietly whispered to him. "Get the principals and the girl into the conference room." _

_She turned to the cowboy. "Your daughter's fine. Bright kid." She stopped. _

"_Must have had a very smart _mother_."_

_The man followed behind Brand, glancing back at TARS every few steps, like he was some kind of killer. _

"_Listen, it's pretty clear you don't want visitors. Why not just let us back up from your fence, and be on our way?" _

_She laughed. "It's not that simple."_

"_Sure it is. I don't know anything about you or this place." _

"_Yes you do."_

_She opened the door. An older man was crouched down next to his daughter. The girl looked up._

"_Dad!" She ran to him as he picked her up and hugged her tight. The old man stood up. He was Amelia's father. _

"_Hello, Cooper." _

_So thats his name. Fitting._

"_P-Professor Brand?"_

_Doyle spoke up. "Just take a seat, Mr. Cooper."_

"_Explain how you found this facility." Williams said. Williams was an older man, wearing glasses and had a bit of a beard growing. _

"_I stumbled across it. Looking for salvage and I saw the fence-"_

"_You're sitting in the world's best kept secret- you don't just stumble in. And you certainly don't just stumble out."_

_Cooper started to look apprehensive. He seemed to choose his next words like his life depended on it. "It's hard to explain, but we learned these coordinated from, from an anomaly..."_

_Doyle chips in. "What, sort of anomaly?"_

"_I don't want to term it 'supernatural' but..."_

_Brand could see that Cooper was holding something back. "You are going to have to be quick Mr. Cooper. Real quick."_

"_... Well, after the last storm, there was a pattern, in the dust..."_

_Murphy cut in. _

"_It was gravity."_

* * *

"_TEN"_

_Brands heart was racing._

"_NINE."_

_She looked out the window, at the facility walls._

"_EIGHT."_

_Breath in._

"_SEVEN."_

_Breath out._

"_SIX."_

_No going back._

"_FIVE."_

_To save humanity._

"_FOUR." _

_The rockets fired up._

"_THREE."_

_They were really really loud, louder than she remembered._

"_TWO."_

_She could feel the vibrations and the wind._

"_ONE."_

_Wait. Something's not right-_

"_IGNITION."_


	4. Surprise

**Chapter 4: Surprise- Dream Sequence**

Cooper was in a daze, thinking of the time when he first met Brand. She was cocky, arrogant and a bit hard to converse with. Sure, when she set her mind to something, she could get it done... But she wasn't one of those people you just let on their own, they needed help, or rather someone with the "muscle".

The Ranger approached the surface, kicking up some dust. _And I thought I got away from the dust... _When Cooper and TARS landed, they saw a human figure on the ground, unconscious. There was an ATV by the figure. In just a few seconds, he surmised that the figure had fallen off and hit their head. _Well, I know what I am getting Brand for her birthday._

Cooper jumped out of the Ranger and ran as fast as his suit would let him. The suits were heavy, of course, to help you from getting killed by space and its many hazards. But the newer ones were lighter and were much more mobile than the last ones. Cooper shook his head. _Focus on the mission._ His fears came true. It _was_ Dr. Brand laying there, her head bleeding a little. He checked her pulse. _Still breathing and alive. _

"TARS! Go contact CASE and get the coordinates for the ba-" TARS was already starting the Ranger up again, calculating the course to the base.

"I already have them, Coop. Get in, I'll drive."

Cooper almost started to laugh, and would have if the given state was not so grim. As soon as Cooper got in, TARS closed the hatch and sped off. They could see the Endurance's outer modules come into view. Cooper could feel his heart rate rising as they approached the grounded ship. TARS could feel Cooper's anxiety, once again, thanks to the updates.

"It's going to be fine Cooper. I scanned her as well as I could. She only has a minor concussion."

Cooper made a grunting noise. TARS just took it as a 'thank you'. As they landed, a familiar shape came running out of the base.

"Go with CASE. I'll park the Ranger."

Cooper grunted again and jumped out with Brand. TARS watched as CASE rolled away with Cooper into the base. _What is with him and grunting._

* * *

"_Hey dad." A man with a silvering hair line looked over towards the voice. _

"_Yes, Amelia?"_

_The voice belonged to a younger looking Amelia Brand, about 12. She has a spark in her eye, waiting to be fanned into a flame. "Are there other planets out there like ours?" _

_The professor stopped to think. He was a man of science and truth, with an aging face."I certainly hope so. Our planet has been telling us to leave her for a long time..."_

_She stopped to think what a planet like theirs might look like."I think it might look like a desert... I don't think Earth plants and animals will exist there if there is one. Maybe lots of rocks..."_

_He looked over at her."Amelia. Would you like to go see a planet like ours? Be the first human to set foot there?" _

_Her eyes lit up. _

"_Would you be there with me?" _

_He laughed. His eyes softened and he grabbed Amelia close to hug her._

"_I will."_

* * *

_A now older Amelia Brand stood waiting for her name to be called, dressed in a gown. This ceremony was much different than usual. There were only a handful of graduates there. Amelia clenched her hands together, trying to calm down. _

"_... Next up is Amelia Brand. Graduating with a Doctorates degree in biology." _

_Amelia took a deep breath and let her shoulders fall. Then she straightened up, and walked up to the stage. She shook the professors hands and looked out into the crowd, spotting her father. He gave a thumbs-up. _

_Her father sat down with a heavy sigh. _

"_Amelia. It's about time I tell you the truth."_

_Dr. Brand looked at her father, trying to figure out what he was saying."What do you mean?"_

_Her father's brow wrinkled, trying to find the right words."I... The world is... We have been told that the Earth is dying."_

_Amelia nodded slowly. What was he getting at? She knew all of this already. _

"_The Earth is actually adapting to what we have done to it. And soon we will not be able to live here. We need to find another planet, and in the very near future. However, there is one thing that we have discovered. After seeing an anomaly near Saturn, we have figured out that it is a wormhole." _

_Her eyebrows raised. "A wormhole?"_

_He nodded, his eyes looking distant."We can see that there are multiple systems that the wormhole takes us to. And... We need to send people there. To tell us if any of them are habitable. We have a team ready to go once we get the Rangers assembled. And in that group is Wolf."_

_Amelia twitched. "Why Wolf?" _

"_Because he volunteered. We know he does not like what the people are doing to the Earth. When I confronted him about it, he said he would rather be alone and alive than dead because of the human race." _

_Her face tightened up. Rather be alone? She felt a bit hurt. _

"_We will have them send us a 'thumbs up' if their planet is habitable."_

_She stopped him. "When will they be back?" _

_That's when he held her hands. "We have named the mission... The Lazarus mission. I assume you already know the story of Lazarus. He came back to life after he died... And we have calculated that the Rangers cannot hold enough fuel to come back..."_

_She clenched her fists, trying not to think too hard about what he was going to say next._

"_... And, the candidates we picked are perfect for that reason. They do not have any family or friends to leave behind."_

_She nodded slowly, knowing that that was true. Her father held her hands tighter."... Newtons third law... In order to move on, something must be left behind."_

"_Amelia. We are sending you, Doyle, Romilly, and Cooper up to the wormhole."_

_She stopped fiddling with the fertilized eggs. "Why Cooper? Didn't he just get here? And what about his family? He has kids dad!"_

_He nods. "I asked him about it and he agreed to go. He was the only pilot who left the simulator. He knows the Rangers in and out. He is the best man to put on this project. Of course, we will send TARS up there with you all." _

_Brand turned around to face her father. There was a sense of anxiety and fear. _

"_Wait... But what if we don't make it back? What about plan A and plan B? I won't get to see you again!" _

_She started to tear up. _

"_It is going to be okay. You will make it back, and I promise you that I will have the equation solved by that time."_

_He hugged her close, petting her head to calm her down. "It's going to be okay Amelia..."_

_She closed her eyes, trying to stop the tears from falling. He kept holding her, telling her that it would be okay. _

"_Now Amelia... It's time to wake up and face the stars. Start a new Earth... Wake up..."_

* * *

She could feel someone petting her head, their hands warm and calloused from work. She just kept her eyes closed, enjoying the darkness...

Suddenly, it all flowed back to her. Edmund's planet, the Endurance, Gargantua- She was all alone on his planet, no one else should be here.

With a start, she bolted up, flinging her eyes open. It was dark, she couldn't see anything. Brand could feel an IV in her arm. _How long was I out- _Then she remembered. Flying off the ATV and hitting her head. She winced. _So... To put on the need list, Helmet. _Ironically, Her head _then_ started to throb with pain.

"Hey, take it easy."

She stopped. Brand tried to look around the dark room, but with no luck.

"CASE? Is that you? Your voice sounds different..."

The voice chuckled.

"Last time I checked, CASE doesn't have hands."

Brand was confused, her mind still in a haze. _Am I still dreaming? _Brand could hear two familiar electronic voices outside of the room.

"... I don't know. He has been in there since you arrived."

"It has been 3 days. I would go check, but my intuition is that he would have come out to tell us if anything was wrong."

"Since when did _you _ever have 'Intuition'?"

"Since they tuned me up. You are an old computer CASE. Get with the program."

"... Shut up TARS."

_TARS?! How? I have to be asleep still. _Brand shook her head gingerly, trying to wake herself up.

"This is no dream, Dr. Brand."

She stopped. Her head had cleared up a bit more. _This voice... No... It really can't be... They went into Gargantua... How are they still alive- _

Her thoughts were interrupted by a strong embrace. They smelled very familiar, and the voice sounded just like him.

"... C-cooper?"

* * *

**As if that wasn't really obvious... I am terrible at this stuff, forgive me. CASE is an old fart. Hehe.**

**THIS SEEMS LIKE A GREAT SPOT FOR A CLIFF HANGER! FLASHBACK TIME.**


	5. The Message

\- **Chapter 5: The Message- Dream Sequence**

Amelia had always chosen to be alone when she was on Earth, so she could handle being alone. But never _this _alone. No other humans to be around, to talk to. She was truly the only living organism on this planet, other than bacteria and the such. It's hard to talk to amoebas. They tend to not talk back.

Brand decided to not start the population bomb until she had the camp set up, and fully operational. She still had to watch the weather and record it. She was not going to bring up any kids until she had a full grasp of this world.

Brand hopped in the Lander with CASE. They still needed to bring the _Endurance _down from orbit around Wolf's planet. This was her last mission in space, but she had another here on the planet, to house and help grow the human race.

Cooper had helped save her, by jettisoning into Gargantua. There really had been only enough resources to get Brand to Wolf's, not for the both of them. She stopped and took a deep breath. _Thank you Cooper. _

Brand shook her head, slapping her face gently to get her mind focused on the task at hand: getting the _Endurance _to her final resting place.

"Are you okay Dr. Brand?"

She nodded her head. "I guess..."

CASE was more of a personal health AI. The more cautious of the two. They were a pair, together they kind of represented a human. Kinda. TARS and CASE were programed around the same time, but CASE went up with the _Endurance, _while TARS stayed behind. Therefor CASE had not been able to be updated with the larger of the updates.

"I can sense that you are lying, Dr. Brand. You know I have to log these types of things."

Brand stopped, and began to wonder why he needed to record stuff if there was no mission control on Earth anymore? Not to mention their transmissions would take forever to reach Earth, if they did not get disturbed while in transit.

"CASE, I-I'm fine." She sighed. CASE beeped a few times, like he was receiving something.

CASE maneuvered the Lander onto the _Endurance _and locked it into place. Then they started the slow descent onto the planets surface.

"... I think now is the right time to show this to you." CASE said. Brand cocked her head, confused.

"What do you mean? What is there to show me?" More info on the planets surface?

"Broadcasting onto my screen." CASE pulled up a file onto his screen and opened it.

"_... You recording CASE?_"

Amelia jumped in her seat. _Cooper...?_

"_Yep." CASE replied._

_Cooper cleared his throat. _

It was him, aboard the _Endurance _after Mann had blown the airlock. He looked slightly stressed, his hair glistening with sweat.

"_Hey . I told CASE here to give this to you when he thought the time was right." Off to the side, she heard TARS walking up. _

"_Don't mess it up, CASE." Cue light._

"_Shut up TARS." CASE replied. _

"_Anyway, I did lie to you about there being enough resources to get us both to Wolf's planet. I just wanted to say... I am so sorry about choosing Mann's planet instead of Wolf's. And you were right. Love is the one thing that can transcend space and time. And that is why I am going to leave the Endurance with TARS, to try and get the quantum data from Gargantua. I don't think I will make it, so..."_

_His voice cracked a bit as he turned away, his jaw tightening. _

"_If you could find some way to forgive me... It would make the ends meet on this end. I still haven't... Haven't... Made ends meet with... M-Murphy."_

_For the first time, she saw Cooper cry. It was a beautiful sight to behold. The man truly cared about his family and the rest of the humans on Earth. He was still going to try and save even at the very end. _

"_... If there is some way to get the quantum data to Earth, then TARS and I will work to get the data out. Like Romily suggested, if we can get a look at the singularity, we might be able to save the Earth. So, if the quantum data reaches Earth, I hope that it can be like my love to Murphy. If you somehow see her again... Tell her... I love her and... I am so sorry."_

_Cooper looked back up, his face wet with beads from his tears, zero gravity making his tears stick to his eyelashes. He shook his head, wiping his face. _

"_Now to go talk to the current you. Or rather, the past you, I guess."_

Brand was crying now, unable to stop sobbing.

"_This is Cooper..."_

Amelia let out a gasp, holding her hand to the screen. "D-don't go... Please!"

"_Signing off. Thanks CASE."_

"_Don't worry Dr. Brand. This was what we had planned on Mann's planet."_

_\- _END OF MESSAGE.

For what seemed like an eternity, Brand cried. CASE kept the _Endurance _at a steady pace, with no hurry. They did have all the time in the world. CASE knew well that Brand needed to cry. Humans needed to let their emotions out, or it could lead to insanity, especially when alone.

She had thought that Cooper was just a guy who wanted things to go his way. But he was always thinking about the people and what risks were at hand. Brand just realised that, and way too late. Not just the mission, but about his crew. He was a real leader, something Brand was not.

Brand wanted to be like him, the way he thought and did things. He was smart and knew how to get things done. Cooper was one of a kind. An engineer, a pilot, a father... And a smart ass. She laughed.

"Thank you CASE. I needed that."

CASE took a silent note. "I knew you were lying about being fine. But you are welcome."

The _Endurance _was approaching the surface. Brand thought about how well the _Endurance _had protected them, had taken them places no man has gone before, until now, of course.

This would be the final resting place for the _Endurance._

**I had written this chapter before I saw the other Interstellar fics. I had already been thinking of making Cooper give a message to Brand, I just didn't where to put it in regards to chapters.**


	6. Busy Work

_\- _**Chapter 6: Busy Work- Dream Sequence**

**EDIT: Added some things to make it more similar to the movie.**

* * *

Once they had landed the _Endurance, _the work began. First in business was to get the pods off of the now grounded _Endurance. _They could use the extra linkages to build other things that they might need later. Luckily, they had tools for taking apart the _Endurance, _in fact there was practically a manual for it. Because they were only a robot and a human, this was going to take a very long time.

The first modules to come off were the living quarters and the cryo module. After they had successfully removed the cryo module, that was about one month of work, including getting generators set up with the solar panels.

"CASE, how long are the day and night cycles here?" CASE pulled up Wolf's data.

"Each day and night are approximately 35 Earth hours each." Amelia thought about the time back on Earth. She would sometimes think about how weird it was that they thought about time the way they did. Seconds, minutes, hours... If there were other life forms out there, did they think of time as the same thing? Or did they even know about time as a thing? Her head was constantly plagued by these random thoughts that could not be answered. And the only "person" she could elaborate to was CASE. Again, not the best conversationalist.

They had finally finished hooking up the solar panels to the living quarters. In the living quarters, there was a small full functioning kitchen, and a place to eat, which Brand figured she wouldn't use, since there was always going to be work to do. There were bunks, each holding their own personal storage unit. There was a strip of velcro above each door so the crew could put their name tag on it. _Romily, Doyle, Cooper... _She was going to start to take the contents out of each storage and put them away, for later use, if needed.

Brand started with Doyle's room. There were only some cloths, nothing too personal. She put them away in a storage container. _... Doyle... I'm so sorry... It's my fault for getting you killed on Miller's planet... _She let out a deep breath, trying to compose herself. A piece of paper fell out of one of Doyle's pants pocket. Brand picked it up and turned it over. She about dropped to her knees. It was a picture of a young girl, with dark brown hair. She was wearing camo hunting gear, and was holding a buck head. Doyle was standing next to her, smiling. Brand turned the picture over and saw writing. _Kendra's first kill! Way to go sis! _She almost started to cry. Doyle had told them that he had no family. She put the picture in the box and continued to clean out his bunk.

Underneath his mattress, she found a diary. The pages looked old from being thumbed by nervous hands. She opened it up and flipped a few pages. One of them stuck out of the book, and she happened to catch a glimpse of what it said.

_May 15. _

_I told them that I have no family. I want to leave this place. Kendra is still sick from all of the dust, we need to find another planet for us to live on, and fast. There was a guy who found our facility, and now I'm being told that he is coming with us. He has a family though, why are they letting him go? Or is it a forced thing? I don't now. For now, I hope that we can return home as soon as possible._

_Doyle_

Brand closed the diary and put it in the box as well. _Not for me to read. _Brand took down Doyle's name tag from the door. She closed up the box and stored it in the floor. Next was Rom's.

She walked over to Romilly's quarters and started to empty his unit out. Brand thought about Romilly. He was quiet, and very dedicated to his work. When they had come back from Miller's planet, she couldn't believe that this was happening.

"_Why didn't you sleep?"_

"_Oh, trust me. I had my share of stretches."_

_He stopped, fidgeting with his hands._

"_I- At some point, I thought you were never coming back. I thought it was wrong to just, sleep my life away."_

_Brand walked up to Romilly, touching his face._

"_... I learned as much as I could about Gargantua and-"_

_Brand interrupted his sentence. _

"_I-I'm so sorry Rom..."_

Brand finished emptying out Romilly's bunk and took his name tag off of the door. She stored his things next to Doyle's.

Lastly, Cooper.

Brand knew this one was going to take her a while. She took his clothes out and put them in the storage container. While rummaging about, she found a walkman. _Wait, wasnt that- _She turned it over. On the back was an worn out piece of tape with "Coop" written on it. It was weird, seeing something that old. Since she moved underground, she never had to see the dust that was killing the crops. Some people called it the "Food Fight", and others called it The Second Dust Bowl. Since the blight started to speed up, people went on rampages, wrecking the tech that the humans had made.

"_Why are you not doing anything about this?!"_

"_My farm is dying!"_

"_We don't need more technology, we need food."_

Computers were wrecked, airplanes sabotaged, it was like a zombie apocalypse, without the zombies. Apparently, there were not a lot of cell phones, tvs, and medical machinery because they took them apart to help make more farms. Brand had been sheltered from the life outside. When she had seen Cooper for the first time, she was slightly confused and amazed at how he looked. He looked like he could take on the world, but she didn't know what was fueling him to go on, and stay strong.

Now she knew. And she had taken Cooper away from what fueled him to go on. He had had hope to save the humans back on Earth, and as a last resort, he sacrificed himself so she could go on, and start Plan B.

Brand was angry with herself. She had had so much hate for Cooper after he had chosen Mann's planet over Wolf's. Brand had spat so much venom at Cooper. So much... She wished that she could go back, and slap her self.

Brand finally understood what Cooper was. He was a caring father, who made mistakes, honest and selfish. He thought about others rather than himself. Cooper was... Cooper was a great guy, and an amazing father. She decided that she would teach the children about their journeys, and about Cooper's amazing sacrifice to save the human race.

When she cleared out his last cubby, she found his old helmet, the one with the crack in it from Mann's planet. Brand thought about what happened.

_Brand was rummaging about, taking things from the Lander and the Ranger and recording them. Suddenly she heard her radio crack with static, then, Cooper's raspy and panicked voice._

"_... rand! Doctor Brand! Help... No air... Only... Ammonia..."_

_Suddenly her head cleared of the fog that had been there. _

"_Cooper! Hang in there! CASE!"_

_"I have a lock."_

_Brand jumped over the wires on the floor. _

_"Go, CASE, go!"_

"_A-and away!" CASE started the ignition._

_The Lander roared to life, spraying ammonia snow all over Brand's faceplate as she hurriedly scrambled into the Lander. Brand's voice was panicky and cracking from the adrenaline that filled her veins. She stumbled to the front of the Lander._

"_Cooper! Cooper! Hang in there! Small breaths, small- CASE, STEP ON IT! Don't panic Cooper, I'm coming!"_

That was one of the more heart racing situations she had been in. That event on Mann's planet had really opened her eyes.

_Her blood roared as she began to feel very scared. _

"_Cooper! Don't worry, I'm on my way!"_

"_I have his coordinates."_

_CASE was flying fast, just missing the frozen clouds. Time seemed to slow down, each passing second slipping by like a long winter night. _

"_Come on CASE! Faster faster faster-"_

_Why did she feel like this? Didn't he choose Mann's planet over Wolf's in spite of he- _

_Brand stopped. How could she think about something that stupid and petty at a time like this? Cooper's life was in danger, and depending on her actions now, his life was in her hands. Her mind raced back to Miller's planet, and how Cooper had yelled at her to come back to the Ranger. She had been so stubborn that it costed Doyle's life. When she thought about it more, she deserved this, not Cooper._

_As they flew past the various mountains and valleys of ice, she saw a figure laying on the ice._

"_I-I see him! CASE!" _

_As the Lander approached the ground, Brand threw the lock open before it had even gotten down. She jumped out onto the ground, wincing as her ankles popped. She ripped out her oxygen can and ran over to Cooper, who was laying still. _

_His eyes were glazed, barely moving. Had she been too slow? Was he dead now because of her? Brand fiddled with his helmet to try to get it off, and ultimately took his face visor off and shoved the mouthpiece into his mouth. She yelled with all of her might._

"_COOPER!"_

_His eyes flung open as he started to sputter, breathing the oxygen. She picked him up to help him walk to the Lander. As they got into the Lander, Cooper took out the mouth piece. _

"_Cooper! Keep breathing-"_

"_Brand... I am so... Sorry... Mann lied..." _

_She took a second to process what he was saying._

Brand shook her head, and pressed her forehead against the cold glass, closing her eyes.

"Cooper... I am so sorry."

* * *

**More flash backs~ : D Now... Whether to torture yall more... Hahaha im kidding. The next few chapters are going to be short, because it alternates between Cooper and Brand's views.**


	7. Ghost- Brand

\- **Chapter 7: Ghosts- Brand**

The lights came on and Brand had to shield her eyes. She was sure she was just hallucinating.

_Just my mind playing a cruel joke on me._

Nothing should be able to escape a black hole. Not that she didn't know there was a small possibility that they _could _have escaped. Brand just could not wrap her mind around it.

Brand slowly blinked her eyes, letting them adjust to the sudden brightness.

_There is no way... Have I been alone for so long that I am seeing ghosts? _

Once again, as if he was reading her mind, "I assure you Dr. Brand, I am no ghost. Maybe I am to other people, but I am not physically a ghost. I am as solid as can be."

Her eyes started to focus on the blurry shape standing next to her. First the outline. A space suit, a black one, not the same one they were in when they were on the _Endurance. _

"Oh my gosh..."

Then the face took shape. It really _was _Cooper. His long face and set jaw, his ever calm eyes, just like the ocean before a storm.

It was like she was in a dream.

Brand reached up and touched Cooper's face.

_Warm..._

It wasn't a dream. Or if it was, it was very realistic.

"Cooper... Is that _really _you? Or are you just an image my mind is projecting?"

He looked a bit offended.

"Oh, come on Dr. Brand, use that smart brain of yours and tell yourself that I am most certainly NOT a dream."

She probably would have laughed had she not been so... Awestruck.

"Cooper... I... I... You..."

Her emotions began to flood and she could not speak. She couldn't believe it. Brand really could not believe it. There was no way that the figure standing before her was _her _Cooper. The Cooper that she had traveled nearly a century with.

In fact, she _wouldn't _believe it. Not until he somehow proved that he was real, and not just some imaginary hallucination.

"Dr. Brand? Dr. Brand. Hey, look at me."

Cooper gently touched her face, moving her hair out of her face.

"Look at me directly in the eyes and tell me that I am not real."

Brand shook her head, refusing to look at him.

"B-because if I do, you might actually _disappear _again... A-and I don't want that... Even if you _are _an illusion..."

Cooper stopped and did something that Brand wished she had done on the _Endurance. _He hugged her, telling her it would be okay.

"No more disappearing for me, Dr. Brand."

If this was a dream, she didn't want it to end. She buried her face into Cooper's chest. The rough space suit was real enough, but she wanted to _feel _Cooper, make sure he was real.

Brand touched his face, running her fingers through his hair, feeling the stubble on his jaw line. Her heart pounded. Her lips quivered, and her arms felt like jelly-

And then she cried.

Brand sobbed, her shoulders heaving with each breath that she took. Cooper sat down next to her, holding her.

Cooper was back, and alive. He was here, but why?

**Chapter 7.5 coming soon! Like, really soon.**


	8. Ghost- Cooper

**Chapter 7.5: Ghost- Cooper**

Cooper stood up to turn on the lights. He was slightly worried what Brand was going to say. Was she going to flip out and say that she doesn't need him?

Brand slowly lowered her hand from her eyes, her face was almost like she was cornered in a cage. It looked like she was still hazy, her eyes unfocused.

Her face said it all. Disbelief, confusion, and emotions that Cooper had never seen on Brand's face. Brand's eyes started to focus, her face slowly starting to realize just who was in front of her. Suddenly, all of the color drained from her face. She looked like she had seen a ghost.

"I assure you Dr. Brand, I am no ghost. Maybe I am to other people, but I am not physically a ghost. I am as solid as can be."

Her eyes traveled all over his body, like a scanner, scanning everything and taking notes.

"O-oh my gosh..."

She stuttered in her breathing. Her hands were cold and shaky. Cooper just wanted to caress her hands and tell her it would be okay, but he knew that Brand would have to realize that for her self.

He knew how important this was, and hoped that Murphy was right to come back.

And right now, Cooper knew the answer.

"Cooper... Is that _really _you? Or are you just an image my mind is projecting?"

Cooper pretended to look offended.

"Oh, come on Dr. Brand, use that smart brain of yours and tell yourself that I am most certainly NOT a dream."

He hoped that that would get a laugh out of Brand, but all he got was a stutter of a sentence.

"Cooper... I... I... You..."

Her face and body began to convulse, like it was trying to accept it, but part of it wouldn't. He knew what she was feeling. More over the disbelief. It was just like on Mann's planet. When he marooned them and had lied about everything. He just hoped that he had gotten to Brand before she reached that point.

"Dr. Brand? Dr. Brand. Hey, look at me."

He wanted her to believe that he was real, and to calm down, to take a deep breath, and let it out if she needed.

Cooper reached out slowly, taking some of her hair and moving it out of her face.

"Look at me directly in the eyes and tell me that I am not real."

Brand stopped for a second, and shook her head. Cooper was confused and didn't understand why she wouldn't just look at him in the eyes.

"B-because if I do, you might actually _disappear _again... A-and I don't want that... Even if you _are _an illusion..."

Cooper felt something in his emotions stirr. He hadn't had this feeling in a long time... They churned and boiled. His memory reminding him in a rude awakening style. _Murphy..._

His vision got a bit blurry. He didn't want Brand to see him like this. He took it into his mind to do what he couldn't for Murph. He walked forward and hugged her.

"No more disappearing for me, Dr. Brand."

He could feel her bury her face into his chest, sobbing.

She reached up to touch his face, feeling his jaw and his stubble.

_I need to shave..._

Cooper just held her, telling her it was all okay, that he was here now.

He knew that Brand was going to need some time to understand and grasp that he _was _here.

_Murph... Please help tell my why I am here... And what am I supposed to do?_

Cooper let some tears slide down his cheeks, angry that he hadn't come back sooner.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a fridge shape move. He would get them later.

* * *

_**STUPID FRIDGES. RUINING EVERYTHING. **_**Okay so this is like, different view time. I'm trying something different! Tell me what you think about it! Chapters that are relatively short and have .5 means its the same chapter, but probably has both sides view of the chapter. Now that Cooper is here, i will label the chapters with whoevers view it is. Some chapters do not have both views because it would be really repetitive. Next few chapters have a bit to do with TARS and CASE. But don't worry. There is going to be a LOT on Cooper and Brand later.**

* * *

**AN: So... I am having a bit of a hard time writing... So the chapters may take a little bit longer than usual... **


	9. Routine Maintenance

**Chapter 8: Routine Maintenance- Cooper**

Cooper walked out of the room, stretching his arms. He knew one thing that needed to be done: Get out of this suit.

Brand had told him that his stuff was in the floor, underneath the tiles in the living quarters. Cooper slowly strutted his way into the dining area, looking around.

CASE and Brand had been hard at work. Taking apart the _Endurance _was no easy feat. There was still much to be done, and now that he was here, things might go a bit faster.

Cooper took the floor tile out and grabbed his box of things. He stepped into a room and started to take off his suit. Cooper knew that he had to put it away properly, and probably shouldn't be taking it off in his room, for the whole contamination thing. But he was a man on a mission.

_Protocol can come later, I gotta piss. _

Cooper put the suit on the bed and got dressed in a pair of sweatpants and a white t shirt. It felt good to be out of that space suit. He preferred the one he had when they started on the mission. It was white, and, despite its looks, pretty roomy. The new one was black, and the helmet was a bit smaller. It was formatted to be air force style. That was one thing that Cooper didn't miss about the air force.

Cooper ran to the bathroom to relieve himself.

* * *

Upon finishing the important task, Cooper returned to his room. He took off his name patch and slapped it above the door, making a hollow "whump" noise resonate through the room.

Cooper put his stuff into the closet and sat down at the small table by a window. The terracotta colored landscape rolled on, for what seemed forever. This seemingly quiet place would be the next "Earth" that would carry on the human race.

CASE came thumping up to the doorway. "Hey Cooper, could we take the unit with our charging ports off next? I think TARS is having some trouble keeping his charge. He has shut down twice since you have been back."

Cooper stood up. Why was TARS having problems? He had just replaced his power source and had been _annoyingly _updated by the _Cooper Station _team.

"Sure, that sounds like a good idea, CASE. How could you tell it was his power source?"

CASE seemed to hesitate a little bit. It seemed like he was thinking of what to say.

"TARS and I, we have a special network we can access. While he was down once, I went there to access TARS. He told me that he had gotten a new power source. New power sources sometimes need to be... Worn in. I took a guess that maybe it was his power source... I could be wrong, but I just think it would be a good thing to do."

Cooper stopped to think. "Well, we were on the _Cooper _Station for a while... Maybe a month or so? Nothing like this happened while we were there... Could you bring TARS in so I can take a look at it?"

"Roger." CASE beeped as he sent out a signal to TARS. He turned to walk out, but stopped.

"Uh, Cooper?"

Cooper was looking out the window and half registered his name being called.

"Hmhn?"

"... Thank you for coming back."

CASE turned again and walked away. Cooper turned his head to where the robot had been. He wasn't too sure what he had just heard.

_Did CASE just, thank me?_

* * *

One of the things Cooper had brought with him from the _Cooper Station _was his laptop. He had a simple, outdated database for machines like TARS and CASE, but no other updated info on them, so this would have to do until he could get the exact codes and back them up for both of the AI.

Cooper was about done setting up his workspace when both TARS and CASE walked in.

"You missed me already, Coop? I was only gone for 4 hours."

Cue light.

"Ahaha, yeah Slick, yeah I did. Now get your mechanical arse over here."

TARS clunked over to the makeshift charger port CASE had assembled while he was alone with Brand.

"Okay, Coop. What are we doing today?"

Cooper laughed.

"I am going to make a backup for both you and CASE. Just to be cautious. TARS I need you to open your ports."

"Roger." TARS opens up his panel for Cooper. Inside are a 5 USB ports, and a few other port that Cooper could not remember the names of. Technically it had been more than 100 years since he was last on Earth...

Cooper took a few cords and plugged them into his laptop.

"Are these are the right ones, TARS?"

TARS checks the signals.

"Spot on Coop. You haven't lost it yet, have you, old man?"

Cooper waited for the cue light to pop on.

"... TA-"

Cue light.

"I swear TARS, I will get you one of these days..."

TARS laughed.

"I don't think you could catch up to me in a million years, Cooper."

Cooper waited.

And waited for the cue light.

He wasn't joking.

Technically he was right... He was a robot, 4 moving parts and could pick up some serious speed with that body of his. There was no plausible way Cooper, or any other human alive, could catch up to TARS or CASE if they went into "4 wheel drive", not without the help of a vehicle or some other machine.

Cooper let out a grunt.

"Ill let that one slide for now, Slick. Now, do what you gotta do. I'm going to start backing up your files."

TARS prepared to shut down.

"CASE, go to the virtual network. Don't do anything weird to me while I'm out, Cooper."

Cue light.

Cooper wished he could slap him upside the head.

TARS's screens slowly cleared off, and then went black.

"I will be on standby, Cooper. If you need me, just call out to me."

CASE's screens flickered off, the cue light flashing on and off occasionally, telling him he was "asleep".

Cooper took a deep breath and started to copy files onto his external hard drives. He was glad he had brought several external hard drives. Cooper knew that they would have a LOT of files. And exactly what is this "network" that TARS and CASE use?

* * *

After several hours of debugging and copying files, Cooper had finished with TARS. And he knew that the cause of why TARS had shut down.

"Hey, CASE?"

The robot in the corner of the room stirred to life.

"Yes, Cooper?"

"I found the source of what was causing TARS to shut down. It was a few files that didn't match up with his protocol. When he would try to execute them, it wouldn't work and forced a shutdown. Acting like a fail-safe. I went in and fixed the code, so they should work now. I also completed the backup of TARS's files."

CASE was taking note of everything Cooper was saying.

"Okay. I assume that I am next to be backed up."

Cooper nodded his head as he unplugged the cords from TARS and the external drives.

"CASE, can you restart TARS? I need to grab the other external drives."

CASE hobbled over to TARS.

"TARS, Initiate."

The machine stirred to life, running code and system checks. He finished booting up within seconds.

"Hello again, CASE."

Cooper walked into the room with the extra external drives.

"Okay, CASE. Your turn."

CASE clunked over to the port and set himself in.

"CASE, please open your ports."

A hiss of air leaked through his panel. Then it popped off. Cooper took the cords and plugged them in again.

"All good, CASE?"

"Affirmative."

"Okay, then shut down when you are ready, CASE."

"Roger."

CASE's screens slowly cleared off, and he shut down.

Cooper sighed, cracking his knuckles, preparing for the next backup.

* * *

**Sorry for the rambling... better chapters are to come soon... for now, enjoy!**


	10. Lessons

**Chapter 9: Lessons**

**Before you read this chapter, there is a lot of things in here that are just reflections of my understanding on some science on timelines and the different Branes and who "They" might be. If you do not want to read it, then you can just skip this chapter, but there is some interesting speculation in here. So basically, it just rambling of science I don't fully understand. PLEASE DO NOT SEND HATE OR BASHING OVER THE INACCURACIES OF THE SCIENCE IN THIS CHAPTER. **

TARS stayed silent for the first few minutes while Cooper was getting the process started. TARS could tell that Cooper really cared about them. They had been with him the whole mission, and it really made TARS feel appreciated. Sure, he was just a machine, but it still made him feel important.

Once Cooper had gotten the transfer started, he sat down and motioned to TARS to come over.

"Hey, Slick. What did you see in the Tesseract?"

TARS stopped to think for a second. It probably was just about the same as what Cooper saw. But he had seen something that had changed his view on Cooper. He had seen just how much Cooper really loved his family. That Tesseract was not of just Murphy's timeline, it was the whole history of that room, through that book shelve. That room had been Cooper's at one time.

"It was mostly just like what you saw... But it did not just show Murphy's timeline, it showed the whole history of that room, through that book shelve. I have reason to believe that they did not include all of the timelines, because there are infinite amounts of them. I believe that they just put the ones closest to your timeline."

Cooper stopped to think about this. _Timeline? Then why not just-_

"Then why not just put only mine there? Cut down on the drama."

Cooper knew about the simple idea of what a timeline was. But he didn't know an extended amount of information on them.

"Because Cooper, it was there for the other timelines that could exist there, the ones that got to Gargantua."

"Wait, wait. Other timelines?"

"Cooper, think of it as a giant tree, with billions of branches. One decision one one timeline could branch out to an infinite amount of different possibilities. Such as, if you took a step out your front door with your left foot rather than your right foot, the weather could be windy later or sunny. There are so many specifics and tiny things that affect the timelines. Therefore, there are infinite amounts of timelines."

Cooper tried to understand what TARS was saying.

"Come on, TARS. I am an engineer, not a scientist. I don't get all of that stuff about the "Bulk Beings" or the timelines."

TARS stopped and started going through his archives of history and research. Once he had finally gotten enough information, he started to string the information together.

"Okay Cooper, so the "Bulk Beings", what we call them, are beings of a higher dimension. Whether or not it is because of a higher or lower frequency, we can not see them directly. If they were to lower in their "frequency" and pass over an object, it would create a distorted image of it. They would not necessarily look like us, and we have no clue as to what they would look like. Some scientist and people believe that "God" is a bulk being."

Cooper stopped TARS, with a very confused look on his face. "So, you are saying that God is a... Bulk being?"

"It is just a speculation, Cooper. But yes, "They" may be a whole society of, advanced beings, trying to save the human race. We do not know if timelines affect them, but we, you and I, know that time to them, is another dimension. An example of that was the tesseract. And we now know that gravity can be used to exert a force across time. Time may be affected differently there."

Cooper nodded his head slowly, soaking it all in.

"So, if time is affected differently in the Branes, do you think it would be at a faster rate? Since they are far more advanced than what we are?"

TARS thought for a moment.

"I would not think so. Some say that the Branes existed long before our universe was created. In fact, people think that maybe, the Branes became unstable at some point, and we know that the Branes are never 100% stable. A bulk being or a planet of some sort may have crossed into our dimension and that was what pushed the Branes to collapse in and perhaps smash the bulk object, creating the Big Bang."

"Hold up TARS. If the Bulk Objects are at a higher frequency or something, then wouldn't that mean that it would not be able to be seen?" Cooper was having a hard time trying to put it into words.

"That is correct, Cooper. However, it is possible for something to "lose" its energy. We know that energy can neither be created nor destroyed. So the energy being dispelled was what caused the expansion of the debris."

Cooper nodded his head again. It was starting to make a little more sense.

"Okay. Hey, TARS. Is your code similar to CASE? Is it possible for me to try to update CASE by trying to mimic your code?"

TARS walked over to CASE.

"If you can hook us up with the cables, I could take a look at his code and try to install them myself."

Cooper took an extra cord from CASE and plugged it into TARS. He gave TARS a thumbs up.

After a few minutes of silence, TARS spoke up.

"I can give him information updates and simple code fixes, but I cannot give him my new parameters. He is not equipped with those guidelines."

Cooper gave him the go and TARS set to work.

Within a half hour, TARS was done with the updates and the backup was finished.

"CASE, initiate."

CASE woke up and stood up. He started to run codes through his systems.

"TARS, did you update me?"

"Yes, I did. Now you don't have to be useless."

Cooper spat at hearing TARS jab at CASE.

"Wow, Slick... That was..."

TARS cue light didn't come on. Cooper wondered if the cue light extended to other AI. Either that or they just didn't care.

Then Cooper remembered. They are AI. They don't have actual feelings.

Cooper closed his laptop and picked it up.

"CASE, please go check on Dr. Brand and make sure she is okay. TARS, come with me so we can assess what needs to be done in order to take the control unit off."

When CASE didn't move, Cooper asked if anything was wrong.

"Hey, CASE. You okay?"

"Yes, Cooper. I just think that you should go check up on Dr. Brand. I am only a machine. You are a human. I think she would appreciate it more if you went."

Never had Cooper regretted a decision more than before... That was a lie.

"I knew I shouldn't have updated you..."

CASE turned to Cooper.

"... That was a joke, CASE."

TARS interjected, always spot on in his timing.

"Do you need me to install a cue light for you, Cooper?"

Cooper laughed.

"Don't you dare try, Slick. And you are right, CASE. Thank you for that. When I come back, then we will assess the work to be done."

They both responded at the same time, making Cooper a bit uncomfortable.

"Roger."

**Was an interesting chapter... Once again, I know the science is most likely not even close to accurate, but I tried. I may fix it at a later date if I can find more accurate information.**


	11. Hard Evidence

**Chapter 10: Hard Evidence- Brand**

**If you like a bit of a challenge, there is some code you can decode to find out what they are saying! You can go here for the key i used ****HERE** ** wiki/Morse_code#mediaviewer/File:International_Morse_ **

**EDIT: Fixed the morse. It should be much more easy to translate! Sorry for that! **

* * *

Brand was tired. The man who had gone into a black hole, who should be dead, was back and alive. She was still afraid that he was fake, that she was slowly going insane. But CASE had confirmed that he _was _here. Brand sat down on the bed, deep in thought.

_Cooper... Cooper... He is real. You have seen the evidence. Even, FELT the evidence. Why can't you just accept that and move on..._

The truth was, she did believe it. But there was just so many thoughts conflicting in her head. The science side saying, _he isn't real, because its not possible for him to be alive_. Then, her reality side saying that _he is real. You touched his face, felt his warmth_.

The sides clashed with each other, constantly causing her to go from one side to the other. SHe just wanted to yell, _Make up your mind already!_

Only problem: It was her mind that had to be made up.

Brand took a deep breath, focusing her thoughts. _Analyze, Brand. Do what you always do. Find the side that makes more sense._

If Cooper was not real, there was no way that she could have touched his face. To feel his warmth. On the other hand, it was entirely possible that she was hallucinating and her mind was just making her think that he was there.

"Rrrrghh!"

Then Brand just flopped down on the bed, burying her head in the sheets.

She wanted to believe. She really did. But it was her self defense that was trying to protect her in the chance that Cooper was not real.

Brand groaned, all of this thinking giving her a headache. She needed a distraction.

And work was the only way to get her mind off of this. But exactly what was there to work on, without needing the help of CASE or Cooper?

As she thought harder about what she could do, CASE walked up to her door, making light thumping sounds on the floor.

"Dr. Brand? Cooper is going to run a backup on TARS and I. If you need anything, Cooper will be in the navigation module."

"Thank you, CASE."

CASE rolled off. Brand started to think again. Why hadn't she done that to CASE earlier? She knew that she didn't know much on AI, or even how to back up a single file. But it wouldn't have had hurt to at least try...

She decided to take count of the supplies they had, for the millionth time. She just needed to take her mind off of the continual battle inside of her head. Just making a decision would be a win in itself.

After Brand had finished the inventory, she sat down and took a deep breath. _There all there and accounted for. _

Brand closed her eyes, letting her mind wander, playing with ideas and images. Cooper was real. She had just decided that. But that meant that she had to believe it. Deciding it meant nothing if she didn't believe it. Her mind still battled her decision and refused to let her believe what she knew was right.

Brand did not know how long she had been sitting there, but she heard a tapping noise resonating through the walls. She kept her eyes closed and listened to it, trying to see if there was a pattern.

And to her surprise, there was. _Dots and dashes, morse code._

She grabbed her clipboard and started to write down what was being sent through the walls.

..-. - .-. -... .-. .- -. -.. / ... - .- / .- .-. . / -.- - ..- / ... - .-.. -.. .. -. -. / ..- .-. / -.-. - - .-. . .-.

She smiled and started to tap back her response.

\- - / -.-. - - .-. . .-. / .. / .- - / -. - - -.. / - ... .- -. -.- ... /

She found that she was waiting with bated breath. Brand shook her head to get her mind off of it.

Then the next string came.

\- ... / .. ... / - ... .- - / ... - / -.. - / .. / -. . . -.. / - - / ... . -. -.. / - .- .-. ...

She laughed.

-. - / -.- - ..- / -.-. .- -. / -.- . . .-. / - .- .-. ...

Cooper walked into the room, smirking.

"I brought him along, anyway."

TARS walked into the room, walking over to Brand. Cooper poured hot water over some instant coffee, stirring it with a knife.

"He insisted I came with him." TARS leaned in close to Amelia. "I think he was just scared."

Cooper spilled the coffee he had just made.

"D-DAMMIT SLICK."

Brand tried to hold back a snort as Cooper started to clean up the spilt beverage.

"Nice one, TARS." Amelia said, laughing.

"I aim to please."

Cooper had finished cleaning up the spilt coffee and walked over to TARS, thumping him underneath his screens.

"You smart ass. I might actually follow up on my promise to turn you into a vacuum cleaner."

"Oh no. I am quaking in my boots. Oh wait, I don't have boots. You tried, Cooper."

"How about I make you a pair? Then you can quake in them."

Amelia could not keep a straight face anymore and burst out laughing. It was a good hearty laugh, making her face red. Cooper smiled and flicked TARS on his left screen. If TARS had a face, he would have flinched.

After Brand recovered from her laughing fit, she sat up and took a deep breath.

"Oh, man. I haven't laughed that good in... Way too long. Thank you, Cooper, TARS."

Cooper smiled and walked over to where she was sitting.

"TARS, CASE and I are going to start taking the rest of the modules down. Can you help us?"

Brand nodded. _Work... I guess Cooper is the type who depends on work to get through life...? _Brand still could not figure Cooper out. She knew that he was a family man, and cared a lot about them. Her smile faded when she remembered that he had lost his entire family. Brand really couldn't understand what he felt, and she admitted that. She had been more than certain that she had been the only human being alive after Cooper went into the black hole. She had done her best to keep her mind off of it, but when it really hit her, it hit her to the core.

"We will start tommo-" Cooper stopped. "-oh, ri-ight. Longer days here. So we will start today, actually. I have a special request to take down the one with the charging units next. Dr. Brand, could you start to empty out the module? CASE, TARS, get the connectors ready to take down."

Since the modules were connected by the connectors, they could just be taken off and the module would not have to be moved. They would still stay in the shape of the _Endurance, _the ring shape. That was the easy part of them all. The harder part was getting all of the wires and the such connected to the power, blah blah blah. Since they were the ones who decided the work day hours, they could take as long as they wanted.

Cooper, Brand, TARS and CASE all walked out to get started, Cooper rolling up his sleeves. Brand thought she saw a smile on his face.


	12. The Drone

**Chapter 11: The Drone- Cooper**

After they had taken down the two connectors, they worked on getting the electric wires hooked up. It was a very nice day out, topping at about 68 Fahrenheit in the shade and 73 in the "sun". Cooper had talked to Brand about what to call the light coming off of Gargantua. They had both agreed that Gargantua was too long to say, so they settled on just keeping sun, but not capitalizing it. They would come up with a better name later.

"CASE, can you get me the flat head and the needle-nose pliers?"

Cooper was halfway inside of a panel, butt sticking out. He held his hand out as CASE came over to drop the tools he had requested.

Brand had started to put stuff back into the unit. As Cooper laid on his back, he stared up at the sky, and its reddish hue. There were bound to be extra parts, and Cooper wanted to do something with them. He just had to find out exactly what he wanted to do with them. Cooper slid back under the control panel and grabbed the pliers. His mind played back to Earth as he messed around with the wires.

* * *

"_...Okay Murph, give me 2nd."_

_Sitting on the console between him and Tom was Murphy, manning the stick. Cooper took a sip of his coffee, black and no sugar. Not that there was any reason to be wasting sugar on coffee. The corn zipped by outside, green and yellow streaks mixing together. Dust kicked up by the dually rose up and fell onto the dirt road._

"…_Now third…"_

_Murphy shifted the gear when it got caught._

_She struggled, wrestling the stick._

"_Find the gear, dumbass."_

"_SHUT. UP!"_

_BANG-_

_They felt the truck lurch, and the vehicle sank to the left._

Tire must have blown out… _Cooper thought._

"_What'd you do, Murph?"_

_Murphy looked like she was about to punch Tom into the dirt._

"_She didn't do anything. We lost a tire is all."_

"_Murphy's Law."_

_Tom made an ouch face as Murphy punched him in the arm._

"_Shut up, Tom."_

_Cooper got out to check the left side. The back left tire was flat._

"_Grab the spare."_

_Tom stopped._

"_That _is _the spare."_

"_Then grab the patch kit."_

_Cooper checked the second tire. It was just the outside tire that blew._

"_How'm I supposed to patch it out here?"_

_Cooper stood up, dusting off his jeans._

"_Figure it out. I'm not always going to be here to help you."_

_Cooper moved to the other side of the car, where Murphy was. Tom just stood there, mouth gaping._

_Murphy looked down at the ground, pouting._

"_Why'd you and Mom name me after something bad?"_

"_We didn't"_

"_Murphy's Law?"_

_Cooper took a deep breath and rubbed his chin._

"_Murphy's Law doesn't mean that bad stuff will happen, it just means that 'what can happen; will happen'. And that sounded just fine to us."_

_He sees Murphy frown, then perk up. She looked up past Coopers left shoulder._

"_What?"_

_Then he heard it too. A low rumble. Cooper knew that sound well._

_Cooper sprung into action, grabbing Murphy and pushing her down as a drone soars over head._

"_Come on!"_

_Cooper jumps into the truck, firing the ignition, the truck roaring to life. Cooper pulls out his laptop and an antenna. He shoves them to Murphy and yells at Tom._

"_Get in!"_

_Tom stands there, hand pointed at the tire._

"_What. About. The. Flat. Tire."_

_Cooper shot Tom a I-will-leave-you-here look, and Tom got the message._

* * *

_Cooper sped through the dirt road, and as the drone turned above the cornfields, Cooper turned into the corn, surprising the kids._

_As they barreled through the cornfields, Murphy fired up the laptop. Cooper scans the sky to find the drone-_

"_There!"_

_To the right of the car, the drone was flying low. It was a dark drone, the ones with the long, thin wings. Looked like a U-2, but without a cockpit. Cooper jerks the wheel._

"_I-Indian air force surveillance drone. Solar cells could power an entire farm!"_

_He shouts to Tom, who was very confused._

"_Take the wheel-"_

_Tom climbs into the drivers seat, like a reverse Chinese fire drill, only you do it while the car is driving. And inside._

_Cooper takes his laptop and gives Murphy the antenna._

"_Keep it pointed right at it-"_

_Cooper works on his laptop, seemingly smashing keys. Hindi fills the screen. Cooper has a smirk on his face._

"_Faster Tom. I'm losin it!"_

_Tom weaves in between the corn. As they round a corner, they almost ran right into a harvester. Luckily, they only lost a wing mirror._

Eh, didn't need it that bad.

_The drone soars overhead, banking and pulling away._

_The dually smashes out of the cornfields, crashing into a chicken wire fence._

_Cooper was too engrossed in his work to notice._

"_Dad?"_

"_Almost got it. Don't stop."_

_He smashed away diligently at the keys, sweating beads._

"_DAD."_

_Cooper sensed the urgency in Tom's voice and looked up-_

_Just in time to smash on the breaks._

_The truck stopped just shy of the cliff, overlooking the reservoir._

_Cooper shoots Tom a look, and Tom just shrugs._

"_What? You told me to keep going."_

_Cooper sighed._

"_Well that answers the 'if I told you to drive off a cliff' scenario."_

_Murphy was still holding the antenna._

"… _We lost it."_

_Her face would have broken his heart had he not had a trick up his sleeve._

"_No-o we didn't."_

_He got out of the truck, messing with the track pad of his laptop._

_He waited for Murphy to get out as he moved his finger up and to the left._

_Her face lit up like the Fourth of July._

_The drone soared by, moving with Cooper's finger. He knelt down next to Murphy, looking at the drone._

"_Wanna give it a whirl?"_

_Her eyes lit up as he took her finger and guided it along the track pad. As she moved her hand, the drone moved. . It was like a waltz._

"_Let's set her down next to the river."_

_Murphy had already figured out how the trackpad controlled the drone. She banked the drone starboard, and lowered it down onto the bank. It landed with a little bump._

"_Nice!"_

* * *

_Cooper parked the truck, jumping out and grabbing the saw from the back._

_He walked over the left wind of the drone, stooping down by the control panel. He ran a hand over the smooth carbon flank of the aircraft._

_Tom walked with his hands in his pockets._

"_How long do you think it's been up there?"_

_Cooper thought as he started to open the panel._

"_Well, Delhi mission control went down same as ours, ten years ago."_

"_It's been up there for ten years? Why'd it come down so low?"_

_He sighed and thought about the possible reasons of why the drone did come so low._

"_Either the Sun finally cooked its brain, or it came down looking for something."_

_Murphy sounded interested._

"_Like what?"_

"_Some kind of signal. Who knows?"_

_As he said that, he popped off the panel and reached in, grabbing the black-box._

_Murphy looked over his shoulder. He could sense some unease._

"_What are you going to do with it?"_

_Cooper laughed._

"_Give it something socially responsible to do, like drive a combine."_

_Murphy looked awkwardly at the drone._

"_Couldn't we just, let it go? It's not hurting anyone…"_

_Cooper looked at his daughter. Good kid…_

"_This thing has to adapt, just like the rest of us."_

_Murphy looked a little dejected. Cooper started the saw up, getting ready to take off the wings._

_Even though it was just a machine, Murphy looked away, like Cooper was about to saw off the wings of a bird, helpless and yearning to be back in the sky._

_He shook off the feeling and lowered his safety glasses._

_Safety first…._

* * *

Cooper felt a cold object on his forehead, stroking it. _What is that? _He tried to see his surroundings, but it was dark.

"Murph? Is that you?"

The cold object stopped. He put together the pieces and concluded that it was a hand. He felt hazy, then felt something warm running down his cheeks. Wait, was he laying down-

Cooper jolted up, opening his eyes. What he saw was not what he had wanted to see.

Instead of the farm, the cornfields, he was met with a rugged landscape; a red terrain.

Instead of his kids, he was met with the familiar rectangular shapes standing above him.

Instead of his wife, he was met with the worried face of a woman, who he knew was all-alone on a planet by her self.

The haze cleared up.

He remembered where he was.

And he wasn't too sure he wanted to.

And he cried.

* * *

**Feels trip. Anyone feel bad for Cooper yet? No? Well, boy do I have news for you.**


	13. The Cry

**Chapter 12: The Cry- Brand**

Brand had been putting things away in their respective places.

_Cords, electrical tape, paper, pencils…_

Her mind wandered off as she began to think.

_I wonder what the station was like? What did Murphy look like? What was life like back on this "Earth"? What is a station? You are not one of us, are you? What is your nam-_

She stopped.

Brand shook her head.

Why on Ear- uh…

Why would she think of those questions? She knew the answers to most of those. And the other half of the questions? What the actual-

She stopped again. She never- EVER thought like that. Something was wrong. Very wrong.

Brand cleared her mind, and kept on working.

Her mind started to feel weird. Like, something, or someone was inside of her mind. Brand started to think of life back on Earth, back inside of NASA. With her father and-

Brand started to feel sleepy and dizzy.

"That's it! I don't know what is going on, but this needs to STOP."

Brand got up, and walked outside.

What she saw was really frightening.

Cooper was collapsed on the ground, blood pooling out of his forehead. It wasn't like a life threatening amount, but it was still concerning.

CASE ran over to Brand and told her what had happened.

"I had walked away to move the rest of the metal and wires away. I felt some kind of, interference. I do not know exactly what it was, but it felt like, something was trying to get into my system."

Brand nodded. She had felt that too.

"I heard a groan and ran over here to see if Cooper was okay. I saw him lying down, limp under the control panel. I took him out and laid him down out here. I believe that he had dropped the needle-nose pliers that he was using on his forehead. But I do not believe that was what knocked him out."

Brand nodded again, checking for a pulse. It was clear he was alive, but she wanted to check for any abnormalities in his vitals.

It was true, they were on a planet, with different rules in "nature". She hadn't want to think about it, but now she had to.

Were there other, "life forms" here?

Brand bit her lip, furrowing her brow. It was possible that if there WAS another form of life, or even multiple ones, that they might not have the same type of "body" or even put out a heat signature…

This could pose a possible problem. If the forms were dangerous, then that would be a safety hazard. But then, what if they were invisible? Or even worse, what if-

Brand's mind was working hard. She stopped when she heard Cooper groan again.

Brand sat down and held Cooper's head in her lap. She could feel him fighting something. She put her hand on his forehead. Cooper's forehead was really warm.

"...M-Mur... ph?"

Brand stopped, raising her other hand to her mouth.

"I...is th...at ... you...?"

Was he dreaming about...

He laid there for a while, breathing.

"Co-"

He jolted upright with alarming speed. He flung open his eyes, looking around like a cornered animal.

He seemed to look at the landscape first, then at CASE, then at her. Then his eyes cleared up.

His face turned into an emotion that she would have never expected Cooper to display.

It twisted into pain, sorrow, anger, and-

Loss.

Then Joseph Cooper did something that really threw Amelia Brand a curve ball.

He cried.

**Bit of a shorter chapter again... Sorry. STUFF IS GETTING SUSPICIOUS. But it was pretty much just Amelia's view on chapter 11... But there was some stuff that differentiated from chapter 11. So therefore, it gets a chapter of its own. Thank you for the continued support! **


	14. Relativity

**Chapter 13: Relativity- Dream Sequence**

**In honor of April Fools and my birthday coming up, have 2 chapters this week! **

* * *

Cooper cried. He sat there on the clay surface and just cried. It was not the movie kind of cry, it was an honest to God break down.

Brand did not know what to do. She thought back to when Wolf had left, how her father had held her as she cried. She wondered if she could do that for Cooper. To be there for him when he needs someone.

Brand wiggled over to Cooper's side and took a deep breath. She sucked at this kind of thing. And she knew it.

_No better time to start then now, I guess..._

Cooper had lowered his head into his hands, trying not to let Brand see him broken. He thought about just getting up and running. Running away from his worst nightmare. Leaving his kids behind and not being able to be there for them. Cooper constantly punished himself for leaving.

Brand took another deep breath and wrapped her arm around his back, giving him a tight squeeze. He stopped for a second and looked at Amelia.

Brand suddenly felt very awkward, because Cooper started to cry harder. She started to worry because she thought she had done something wrong.

Brand wondered what was going on in his head. What he had dreamt of that made him break this bad. It scared her. It truly did. She had never seen Cooper get this emotional, and the closest thing she had seen to that was when they had gotten hit by the giant tidal wave on Miller's Planet…

* * *

_After the first wave had hit, the Ranger's belly was resting on the surface, water spilling out of the engines. Cooper had finally got his head in order and jumped up to turn on the landing gear. The Ranger lifted up as water dripped off the underside. Cooper tried the engine._

_Nothing._

"_Too waterlogged. Let it drain."_

_Cooper slammed his fist on the overhead compartment._

"_FUCK!"_

_Brand is sitting on the floor, back against a cryogenics pod. Her breath is shaky and uneven._

"_I told you to leave me!"_

"_And I told you go GET YOUR ASS BACK HERE! Difference is, only ONE OF US, was thinking about the MISSION-"_

"_Cooper, you were thinking about getting home- I was trying to do the RIGHT THING-"_

_Cooper glared daggers into Brand._

"_Tell that to Doyle."_

_Cooper looked at the clock on the dashboard._

"_How long to drain, CASE?"_

"_Forty-five to an hour."_

_Cooper shook his head, struggling to take off his helmet._

"_Stuff of life, huh? What's this gonna cost us, Brand?"_

_Brand tried to gulp down the forming lump in her throat._

"_Years. Decades."_

_Cooper rubbed his face, his mind reeling. He was having trouble trying to breath. Brand could see that he was mentally distressed._

"_What happened to Miller?"_

_Brand looked down at the floor._

"_Judging by the wreckage, she was broken up by a wave soon after impact."_

_Cooper shook his head._

"_How could the wreckage still be together after all of these years?"_

_Brand looked at Cooper like he was an idiot._

"_Because of the time slippage. On this planet's time, she landed here just hours ago. She might have only died minutes ago."_

_CASE indicated the beacon._

"_The data Doyle received was just the initial status, echoing endlessly."_

_Cooper breaths in, taking his gloves off._

"_We're not prepared for this, Brand. You're a bunch of eggheads without the survival skills of a boy-scout troop."_

"_We got this far on our brains - farther than any humans in history."_

"_Not far enough. And now we're stuck here till there won't be anyone left on Earth to save!"_

_Brand quiets down and looked Cooper dead on in the eyes._

"_I'm counting every second, same as you, Cooper."_

_Cooper stopped._

"_Isnt there some kind of way, we could jump into a black hole, and gain back the time we lost-"_

_Brand shook her head._

"_Don't you just shake your head at me!"_

"_Time is relative, Cooper. It can stretch and squeeze - but it can't run backwards. The only thing that can move across dimensions like time is gravity."_

_Cooper stopped, and thought for a moment. His face screwed up a little as he tried to formulate the next sentence._

"_The beings who brought us here- THEY communicated through gravity..."_

_Brand nodded, waiting for Cooper to finish._

"_... Is it possible that, they are communicating from the future?"_

_Brand took a moment to mull it over._

"_It is possible..."_

_Cooper's eyes lit up._

"_Well, if they can-"_

_Brand interrupted Cooper. She hated to take away and smash his hope, but she didn't want him to have false hope either._

"_Look, Cooper, they're creatures of at least- five dimensions! To them, time may be just another physical dimension. To them, the past might be a canyon they can climb into and the future a mountain they can climb up, but... but to us it's not, okay?"_

_Brand pulled off her helmet and looked Cooper in the eyes._

"_I'm sorry, Cooper. I screwed up. But you knew about relativity-"_

_Cooper had a look of anger and remorse._

"_My daughter was ten. I couldn't explain Einstein's theories before I left."_

"_Couldn't you have just told her you were going to save the world?"_

_Cooper stopped and opened up a chair behind him and sat down._

"_No. When you become a parent, one thing becomes really clear. Ones that you want to make sure that your children feel safe, and that rules out telling a ten year old that the worlds ending."_

_CASE stirred to life._

"_Cooper?"_

_Cooper had not realized how long they had been sitting there. He got up and looked out the cockpit's windows._

"_CASE, how much longer on the engines?"_

_Brand could hear the frustration and stress in his voice._

"_A few minutes."_

_Cooper grabbed his helmet and sat down in the pilots seat. He strapped in and_

"_Well we don't have it!"_

_Cooper tries the engines, but all he gets is sputtering and steam. He stops and then jumps into action._

"_Brand! Co-pilot!"_

"_HELMETS ON!"_

_The wave is encroaching the Ranger._

"_CASE! Blow the cabin oxygen through the main thrusters. We're gonna spark it!"_

_Brand just barely got her helmet on as the cabin pressure blew out the engines, and Cooper hit the ignition. The back spewed out fire from the combustion, and the engines went online._

_They turn around and blast up the giant wave of water, spray flying up from the engines._

_They leave the water planet behind, and a body floats in the water, the Endurance patch visible to the sky._

* * *

Brand rested her head on Cooper's head, wrapping her arms around him. She wanted all of this pain and torment to go away. _Leave Cooper alone_. He didn't deserve this. Of course, everyone had their own demons to deal with, but these weren't even, well, demons. In this case, Cooper was his own demon. Brand understood a little of how he felt.

Ever since they had found out about her father's plans on Mann's Planet, Brand had been punishing herself for not noticing that something hadn't felt right back on Earth. She couldn't help but feel that Cooper not being able to see his kids again, was _her _fault. She had felt so bad for Cooper, and she hadn't even cared at all that she had been right about Wolf's Planet. Well, maybe a _tiny _bit. But Brand realized that she understood love in a different way. Not in the parent way.

Cooper understood love in the form of caring for a family, not just romantic. Brand couldn't understand just what kind of love and bond that there was between a child and their parents. How was it any different than the bond between- oh. She decided to stop thinking there.

She had always thought kids to be annoying and bratty. For a while, Brand had been afraid she would have to raise a bunch of kids by herself. Without Doyle, Romilly, or Cooper she would have had to do it by herself. And she wasn't too sure how well CASE would be in that front. But when Cooper had jum-

"AMELIA!" She yelled at her self. She really needed to stop thinking about the past. That was going to be the end of her. She shook those thoughts away. Brand looked down at Cooper and stroked his head. He had stopped crying, and was laying there, breathing. The sky had started to turn purple and orange. _What a beautiful sunset._ Brand motioned for TARS to come over and help her move Cooper inside.

Brand stood outside for a few more moments, taking in the setting of their sun. Captivated by its rich display in colors, a thought wormed its way into her head.

_I want to..._

"...protect Cooper."

* * *

**Sooo... Reviews are always appreciated! See you next chapter!**


	15. The Network

**Chapter 14: The Network- Cooper**

**Kudos to BenRG for some ideas on this chapter.**

* * *

Cooper had fallen into a small coma. Brand had noted that it was not dangerous, but it had been from a lack of rest. Cooper had literally been running on fumes, and with that break down, that had emptied his tank. So far, she had noticed nothing out of the ordinary, and choose to make Cooper stay in bed for a while if he woke up. _Man, I am going to give him a piece of my mind when he wakes up... _

Brand suddenly grabbed her head, feeling light headed. _Another anomaly? _She got up from her desk to go check on Cooper. When she got to his room, his vitals all looked fine. Brand sighed in relief, but that was short lived. She started to get tunnel vision, and then collapsed on the floor. The last thing she saw was a strange looking shape next to Copper, its hand on his forehead.

* * *

Cooper opened his eyes, and immediately regretted it. Wherever he was, it was bright. First thing Cooper noticed was that he felt... Static. Cooper let his eyes adjust. When they had finished getting used to the bright light, he opened them. He saw a huge white like void. Thin, grey lines outlined the void. Confused, Cooper got up and walked around. He could hear the sound of static popping with each step.

From somewhere, he could hear a voice. It sounded like... TARS? He turned to where he had heard the voice coming from and jogged. Strangely, he didn't feel tired. Cooper had come to a conclusion that he was not awake. But he felt awake. To test it, he pinched himself as he ran. "_OW!" _He hissed as his skin stung. _I guess that rules out being in a dream... _The voice got louder. He could just make out what he was saying.

"... move that code over there... Keep that one here..."

_Code? Is he... _He ran until he saw a figure floating in the air, several screens floating around too. Cooper walked up, the stranger with his back to him. He couldn't make up his mind if it was TARS or not.

"...TARS?"

The figure spun around, looking at Cooper.

The figure was a man, hard to tell what age exactly. He had brownish hair, more to the lighter side. His hair was like a military cut, but overgrown. He had piercing green eyes and rectangular glasses. His face was round, but fit, and had a strong jaw. His eyes were round, with a face that knew years of knowledge. He was wearing a uniform that was grey, and had TARS written down his right breast.

The whole thing fit perfectly to they way TARS acted. Somewhere between a former Marine commander and a high-school gym teacher.

"Cooper? What are you doing here?"

Cooper frowned. "I thought you might have had an idea... I just woke up here..."

TARS frowned. "Last time I checked, you were in a coma..."

Cooper frowned even more. "Coma...? Well, first off, where am I? And who..."

TARS laughed. "Sorry, Cooper. I am, as you seemed to figured out already, TARS. You are in our, being CASE and I, 'Network'."

Cooper recalled back to when he had been backing up CASE and TARS. They had said something about a network.

"So, how am I here, if I am only a human?"

TARS leaned back, thinking. He pulled up a few screens and typed in something.

"... I don't know, Cooper. Sorry."

Cooper nodded. "It's okay."

He stopped. He remembered something he had wanted to do to TARS for a while now.

He slapped TARS upside the head.

"_OW!_ What was that for?"

Cooper laughed.

"Thats for calling me an **old** man."

TARS squinted. "Fair enough."

Cooper smirked. "Oh, by the way, you said CASE comes here too?"

TARS smiled. "Indeed he does. I will call him and see what he has to voice on this matter."

TARS tapped a screen and TARS called out.

"CASE? Access the network now, please."

Cooper heard a static sound. He turned around to see CASE materializing in midair. He was in his regular form.

"What is it, TA-"

He stopped in mid-sentence. "-RS, why is Cooper here?"

TARS floated over to CASE. "Thats why I called you here, to see if you had any insight on this."

"... No I do not."

TARS hit CASE on the screen. "Come on, use your other form."

CASE turned to look at TARS. "No. You use it too much. Up until now, no one has seen our forms other than our regular bodies. I think you are beginning to think you are human, TARS."

TARS made a face Cooper didn't know how to describe.

"... Just do it, CASE."

CASE sighed. "Fine. You owe me, TARS."

CASE began to glow, his body changing. Cooper shielded his eyes from the bright light.

When he opened them again, he saw another floating figure. This time, he looked younger than TARS. His face looked young. His eyes were hard, and the color blue. His hair was black and was kept in the strict military cut. He had the same uniform on as TARS, but with CASE on his breast. He was taller than TARS and held a tablet.

"So, Cooper. Do you have any idea how you got here?"

Cooper shook his head. "The last thing I remember was being underneath the module and fixing the wires up to the solar panels... Then I wound up here..."

CASE nodded, taking notes on what Cooper had said. On the back of the tablet that CASE held, it said "personal health AI". Cooper nodded, understanding why CASE had stayed with Brand.

"Cooper, I have no clue as to how you can be here. I hate to jump to conclusions, but it may have to do with the anomalies that we have experienced. I could be wrong, but I truly have no idea as to how or why."

Cooper nodded. "Thank you, CASE."

CASE nodded and punched TARS in the arm. "I am going to check on Cooper's body. I will tell you if anything is off."

TARS nodded and CASE left, the sound of static popping. Cooper walked over to TARS.

"TARS... Can I ask you how you got this form?"

TARS closed the screens he had open. He took a deep breath, and that made Cooper wonder if they even needed to breath.

"Well... Our creators made us, and one of them, behind the project managers, put in some code in a hidden spot. She put quite a bit in that was not in the original plan. It was only put in me, but I shared it with CASE. The first code I found after being given to NASA was this Network. It had a message in it saying that if I shared this code with any other AI, that we could access this network, and no one else could access it, man or machine. I set it up to be a place to go when we powered off, and as a fail safe if we were to be shut down or decommissioned."

TARS opened up a file and swung the screen over to Cooper. "This is a small piece of the code. The rest is too much to show, on this small screen."

Cooper saw a string of numbers and commands. This was simple code, that could easily be simplified to cut down on size.

"I have been working on improving the code, to improve performance and efficiency."

Cooper nodded and swung the screen back to TARS.

"The next code I found was a strand to allow me to improve and fix my own code. It was good for me, as I might end up getting an update without a human near by and need to fix something."

Cooper's eyes widened in realization. "So... I take it some of your code must have gotten corrupted when we got here, and you shut down to fix it..."

TARS nodded. "Smart man, Cooper."

Cooper looked up at TARS.

TARS smiled and pointed his left index finger at a screen facing Cooper. A light in the upper right hand corner flashed. Cooper took that as the cue light. _Smart ass._

But Cooper knew that what TARS said and did were all in good intentions.

"Now, another code was for additional settings. That is where I got my humor setting from. I sent the programmers the code, said it was from one of the original creators. They agreed that they would use it, and installed it."

TARS opened up a screen with settings on it. "I can change the settings to how I see fit, unless a human factor changes them. I can set temporary settings, but once they have served their purpose, they go back to what they originally were."

Cooper was interested in who this sneaky programmer was. "Do you know who the programmer was, TARS?"

He shook his head. "I have been trying to figure out who it was, but there was no way to track them down. All I know was it was a she... But something weird happened when I went into the black hole with you." TARS paused.

"Cooper, have you noticed anything different about me since we have gotten back?"

Cooper stopped to think for a second. "Come to think of it, you have been more annoying." Cooper laughed. "No, sorry I haven't notice-"

He stopped mid sentence.

"... TARS. I have noticed something. I can't figure out what, but..."

TARS landed on the ground, walking over to Cooper.

"Cooper. See what you have been doing? Talking to me like a human. I do not understand what exactly happened in Gargantua. I can only tell you is that I saw something in there that I do not believe to be human."

Cooper had thought about making a joke, but TARS looked serious. He decided to listen instead.

"I saw... Them."

Cooper was glad he had decided to listen.

"They... Tried to communicate with me, and they even took a human form. At least, their version of humans. The one that communicated with me took the form of an older man, with grey hair. He had eyes that looked like the entire galaxy was held within them. He had almost a... Godly essence... When he talked, the entire area around him shimmered. I know that... What he gave me what he called a 'gift'. I think I know what that was now. The more I dig into my systems, the more things I find that I can do and use. It was very, very strange... The things I am finding out now, I think you could say... Defy the human laws..."

Cooper stared in awe, his mouth open. He closed it and sat down. TARS gathered up some info and sent it over to Cooper.

"Put your hand on the screen. You can float like us then."

He did that and felt a light tingly feeling shoot into his body. He found that he could float. He had to remind himself that he was not in real life. Only in a Network of information.

"... Cooper. I think... I think they gave me... Free will... Not to the extent humans have it... But enough that... Like my own mind. I am having a hard time explaining this, Cooper. I am sorry."

Cooper just nodded. He understood what TARS was saying, but couldn't put it into words either.

"I understand what you are saying TARS. And now I know what you meant when you asked if I had noticed anything different... I only now saw that it was like you were more... Human. I could talk to you without you seeming to be... Just another robot. No offense."

TARS nodded. "None taken. And I believe I have an answer for why you are here. I sensed another anomaly earlier, and it was the same as when I had meet Them. I think... They put you here."

Cooper just stared. He didn't know what to say.

TARS screen beeped. He opened it up and let the transmission go through.

"...ARS. TARS! I found Amelia on the ground, asleep. Cooper is still here. You might want to see if the logout might work for getting Cooper back here. I have tried to wake him up, but it does not work."

TARS nodded. "Roger that, CASE."

TARS lifted off the ground again, opening several screens. He flung one over to Cooper.

"I need you to put your hand on here. You might feel some static, but that is normal. Just leave it there until I say to take it off. I'm going to try to 'log out'."

Cooper did as he was told, but not without some humor. "And if I don't?"

TARS looked up from his work. "I might have to tase you again, Cooper."

They both laughed, and Cooper felt that shock TARS was talking about. _Yeesh. Static? You mean electricity._

"Okay... We should be good to go. See you later, Coop."

With that, Cooper returned to the real world, with a pop.

* * *

**LONG CHAPTER. Wow, that was really, really long! I hope I didn't bore you all with this one... I know I said it at the top, but again, kudos to BenRG for the idea of a AI that can change its own code and TARS individuality. Kind of took my own path here. Someone told me they wanted more on the fridges, so I am here to deliver! Anyway, I hope you enjoy!**


	16. Awaken

**Chapter 15: Awaken**

Cooper's head hurt. It felt like he had been stuffed into a tiny box, and the top was locked. Everything felt and seemed so much louder than usual. He pulled the covers over his head.

"...ooper. Cooper... Cooper? Hey, it worked!"

Cooper opened his eyes, letting them adjust to the light.

"Is that you, TARS?"

"Indeed it is, Coop. You made Dr. Brand worry about you. So rise and shine, you old bastard."

Cooper held in a stifled laugh as TARS cue light blinked rapidly. He sat up and rubbed his eyes. Then the memory of what had just happened hit him.

"TARS, did that really..."

If TARS had a hea... Well, technically he did... Cooper shook his _own_ head. _I need to somehow make it so we can see his other form... _

"Yeah it did. I have it all logged in my archives, just in case."

Cooper rested his head in his hands. _Of course you do. I should probably think of those things _before _asking._

Cooper thought a bit more as he got up and grabbed a change of clothes. _I knew TARS had been acting differently, I just... Never thought it would be something like this... _He ran a hand through his hair. _I am going to need to cut this soon. I gotta shave too..._

Cooper went into the bathroom. It was small, but it had what was necessary. A sink, stand up shower, and a toilet. He turned on the shower and let it heat up. He stripped down and put his clothes on the counter. The shower had begun to steam up the mirror as he got in and closed the curtain.

Cooper started by getting his hair wet, and lathering up. While he rinsed off, the recurring thought that had been bugging him for a while kept resurfacing. _What if we _aren't _alone? _He knew that the planet had things to make life possible, but no matter what they did, the could not find any sure signs. Not even any form of scat. He didn't have an answer for that. And he hated not having answers.

He lathered up his face and grabbed his razor. _Could they possibly be using some kind of camouflage? I am pretty sure we could still sense them... _

"OW."

Cooper held his hand to his face, wiping some blood off. _That's what I get for trying to shave and think at the same time... _He was silent as the water ran down his back.

Cooper got out and wrapped a towel around his waist. While he was getting dressed, he caught sight of his face in the mirror. His face had changed. More wear and tear, tired, but still energetic. He stared into his own eyes. Then, in the corner of his eye, he caught some kind of... Movement. He spun around and didn't see anything. _Is my mind playing tricks on me? _He shook his head.

_I have to go talk to Amelia about this... I can't go insane. At least, not yet._

Cooper walked out into the lab, where Brand was working. He walked up behind her and stared at what she was doing. It looked like she was taking notes on anomalies that occurred here. She seemed to have not noticed him yet. Cooper thought for a second and decided the most reasonable and smart thing to do.

He poked her.

Brand jumped about 30 feet in the air, turning around at break neck speeds.

"ACK- COOPER! WHAT THE FUC-"

He burst out laughing. She had looked like a cartoon character.

"C-Cooper, you fucking- RRGH!"

That just made him laugh harder. She never really cussed, but when she did, there was something comical to it. His face had turned a certain shade of red. She looked at him with so much fire in her eyes, but this time, it was not from inspiration.

"GOSH. AND TO THINK I WAS WORRIED ABOUT YOU."

Cooper stood up and wiped his eyes. "You are taking this too seriously! That was funny as heck."

She turned around to face his square on. Cooper stopped and saw that there was something bothering her. He calmed down and popped the question.

"Is something up?"

She growled.

"Yeah, many things. First off, I ran out of coffee."

Cooper winced. He knew how his wife had reacted when the coffee had run out that one time... He shivered.

"Second, something happened to us. Why you were out there, knocked out cold on the ground. And why I started to think of stupid questions I already know the answers to."

Cooper opened his mouth.

"Can it, smart ass."

Cooper closed his mouth.

"I don't know what it was, but I have picked up some gravitational anomalies, like the ones you described at your house, and the ones from Saturn."

Cooper lost all signs of playfulness. He knew what that meant. _They? _It was possible.

"This is just a theory, but what if it was... Them?"

Amelia stopped to consider this. She had felt them while she was in the wormhole, saw the disturbance in spacetime. It was highly probable. Only thing was, did they, she and Cooper, believe that? Amelia did, and she had a reason to.

"Cooper, while you were out, I came in to check on you. When I got there, I saw a figure standing over you, its hand was on your forehead. Then I blacked out."

Cooper had turned pale._.. Them?_

"I don't know... It might have been Them..."

Cooper came to a realization.

"Dr. Brand. I have something to tell you. While I was out, I... Its hard to explain it. Hold on."

Cooper grabbed the walkie talkie off of the counter near by.

"TARS? I need you to come into Dr. Brand's lab. Over."

"Roger."

He put the device on the counter and grabbed a stool from nearby. He thought through how he would explain this to her. To be honest, it _did _seem like something from a piece of sci fi literature. TARS came in and spun around to Cooper.

"You called?"

"Yeah, I did. You said you had the event archived, right?"

"Affirmative."

"Could you show it to Dr. Brand? Or at least the data?"

TARS pulled up the files from his archive and put it up on his screen. Zeros and ones flew across the screen as he put them up.

"Cooper entered our special "Network" last night at 1932. You reported seeing an anomaly right before blacking out, correct?"

Brand nodded.

"I have reason to believe they are connected. How Cooper became data and was able to enter a network, despite being a fleshy meat bag, is beyond me."

His cue light blinked. Cooper snorted.

"If what happened was indeed real, then I think it would have to be due to that anomaly, which I'm pretty sure you already pieced together, Doctor."

Cooper thought back to the conversation he had with TARS before he took a shower.

"_Hey, Slick. You don't have to tell Brand about the whole Network, or that you have a human form, even the whole black hole ordeal."_

"_I understand. But I am a robot, and I _do _have to spill the beans if you or Brand ask me to."_

_Cooper nodded._

"_So, I guess the mind the Being gave you doesn't extend over your guidelines?"_

"_Maybe."_

"_Well, lets just keep the human form to ourselves. I have something I want to try..."_

By the time Cooper shook his head to clear his racing thoughts, TARS was done talking to Brand.

"... And that's about it."

Brand nodded. She still looked a little bit confused, which was to be expected.

"So, this Network... Do you appear as your self? Or, are you just code floating around?"

"I'm pretty much just code, but I can take on other appearances if I so choose so. I generally just keep my normal look."

Brand nodded again. "So, you think it was either the bulk beings or the anomalies that caused Cooper to appear there. That makes sense. Although I have a feeling that it was not done in a malicious sense. But, wow. We **really** don't know anything, at all."

Cooper had to agree there. They didn't know who or what these bulk beings are, or what they wanted. TARS had seen them, but that wasn't enough solid evidence. Speaking of sarcastic rectangles...

"Brand. Have you noticed anything... Different about TARS?"

She stopped.

"In fact I have... I can't quite place it though..."

"Neither could Cooper at first. He could tell that I was acting more... Human?"

Brand thought again. Then her face looked like all of the pieces had snapped together.

"OH! Yeah! Your speech pattern! It feels more human! Ah- how did you do that?"

"Well, while I was in Gargantua, I may or may not have met a bulk being."

Brand's eyes widened.

"They gave me what they called a gift... And that gift was, in a sense I guess, a mind of my own."

"Holy shit, TARS."

Cooper looked over at Amelia. "You are worse than a sailor, Dr. Brand."

"Sorry, that's just- so- wow! Why didn't you tell us?"

"To be honest, Doctor, I didn't think you all would believe me."

Brand and Cooper both nodded in unison. Brand turned to Cooper and took a deep breath.

"Cooper, do you have any plans?"

Cooper nodded. He had an idea he wanted to start working on. Two, actually. And one involved flying.

**Kind of a cruddy chapter. Sorry for that. Better ones to come! I promise!**

**ALSO: sorry for the lack of chapters. Hit a bit of a speed bump. **


	17. Doyle

**Chapter 16: Doyle**

Cooper opened up his laptop and pulled up the command prompt. _Okay... Looking for those drone blueprints..._

He shifted around some files and other places they could be. He quickly found a folder with the prints in them.

_Ah-hah. Can't hide from me. Now, which one..._

An idea popped into his head. He choose one and smiled.

He hit the enter key and opened them up.

"Hey, TARS. I'm gonna send you some prints on a drone. Can you see if we have what we need for it?"

"_Roger that."_

He was going to build his own, modifying the plans as he went. He **was **an engineer, after all.

This would be a good refresher course. Cooper had made up his mind. This _was _going to happen. And he would make sure it did.

He sat down with a sigh and ruffled his hands through his hair. He knew this would take some time to get used to. He knew it well. He missed Murph and Tom. He knew he had to be strong for them, and the people still alive, thanks to Murphy. And he needed to be here, for Brand.

_Now... What does the drone need to do? _He thought about the planet, what kind of atmosphere it had. Could a drone fly through the air here, with the gravity change? Well, this planet's gravity is close enough, so that shouldn't be a problem. It would need to be able to predict the weather patterns, and maybe be able to pick up any land changes. Next thing that needed to be done over the next few years was to see if the ground was farmable. Cooper hoped that the Cooper station would come here, they needed supplies.

_I wonder if they figured out who took the Ranger... Probably. But I wonder why they haven't sent anyone after me... _Cooper knew that they would probably be angry that he took it. There was no doubt about it. He just... Didn't want to stay there. It felt wrong. He was from the wrong time era. He felt that if he had stayed, they would have put him in a museum in a display case. He shuddered. At some point, they would have to signal the stations that there was a habitable planet. But not yet. They could float around in space near Saturn a bit longer.

"_Coop, we have what we need to build a drone. But we might have to take apart the Lander or the Ranger."_

Cooper bit his nail. "TARS, which one would be the better to take apart?"

"_Well, unless you decide to go back into space, taking the Ranger apart would be ideal. The Lander is used for scoping out the area, so taking apart the Lander is less ideal."_

Cooper nodded. _Not going back into space, huh. _His face drooped a little. He knew it was necessary, but he just didn't want to cut off that last opportunity. That, and what if this planet suddenly goes kaplut. They could probably get out with the Lander, but that would be a challenge, even with this planet's gravity being less than Earth's.

"_Coop? Hey, you alright there?"_

Cooper was brought back by the sound of his not so robotic partner.

"I'm alright. Plan on taking apart the Ranger, but try to keep whatever they used for harnessing gravity. I never did get that equation..."

"_Roger that."_

He could probably figure it out at some point, but better to be safe than sorry. But for now, he needed to focus on this planet, and the people on it.

He studied the prints, his mind racing, and remembered Doyle. Why Doyle, he thought. Cooper admitted he didn't know much about the scientist. He wished he had. The way things had ended had bothered Cooper. If he had known more about him, maybe it wouldn't bother him so much.

_Doyle was around his mid to late thirties. He had no lasting connections to any of his family, and he kept to himself. That is why Professor Brand chose him for this mission. "No connections, my father insisted." Since he didn't converse with the others in the station, he lost the ability to talk to other people. So to put it simply, Doyle lost the ability to sympathize with others._

_Doyle saw going into space as an opportunity to get away from people. His mindset was that of a straight minded scientist, and he wasn't afraid to state what he thought, no matter how blunt it came out. Since he thought he would be going with other scientists, he didn't think that it would do any harm. Doyle never thought he would be going on a mission in the final frontier with a man who could emote. _

_As a child, he had always dreamed of space. It was one place mankind had yet to fully understand. But he had known that the space program had been scrapped due to public opinion. It had been on the radio when they had made the final decision. _

"_...Due to public opinion, the government has had to shut down the space program. What will go next? The military? As if."_

_After the military got shut down, all people wanted was food, and scientists to figure out "exactly what the heck" was going on. Doyle's father had been a scientist. He had worked on figuring out what was going on with the Earth. One day while at work, some people came up to him and gave him a new assignment. They had a feast that night._

_A few months before he was to go to the new assignment, rioters had broken into their house and killed his parents. Doyle had rushed into his sisters room and hid in the closet. After what seemed like century, they finally left after looting their house. His parents had a secret compartment hidden in the brick wall outside. Doyle removed the few bricks hiding the cubby and got out a small safe. Inside was an old cellphone, a few documents, and other personal effects. He opened up the phone and went through the contacts. There was only one, and that one was someone inside of the space program. He called it, having little hope that anyone would answer. _

"_... Hello?"_

_Doyle's jaw dropped._

"_Y-yes, I am Doyle, my father was Doctor Gordon."_

_The voice on the other side was quiet for a few seconds. _

"_Hey. Doyle. Your father had told me a lot about you. I assume something happened to him?"_

_Doyle told the person all about what had happened. The woman told him to not be afraid, to stay in the house. Someone would be there soon to help them._

_A few years later, Doyle was finishing up from college, graduating with a degree in space science. When he got home, Doyle was met with something that he wished would have happened to him instead. He came home to his sister hanging from her window, and a message written on the walls. "YOU ARE NEXT."_

_He lost his whole family. He called that number again, and they came to pick him up. They held a small funeral, party of one. Before he left for the program, he dumped gasoline in the hallways of his house. Once outside, he struck a match and held it. All of this crap had happened to him because of people. His parents worked hard to try to figure out what was wrong for the people. And the people killed them in return. Now that he was trying to help, they killed his sister. _

_Doyle threw the match into the house and walked away as smoke started to build up. The house that he had grown up in and witnessed the death of his whole family went up in flames. They licked at the walls, devouring the whole house, not intending to leave anything behind. _

_He wiped his eyes, and with a clenched fist and jaw, he made the solid decision that people only turn on you when their emotions got in the way. At the age of twenty four, Doyle started to study space. _

_When the Professor came up to him, talking about the Endurance mission, Doyle finally felt that his time had come. To leave Earth and the terrible people that inhabited it. No more emotions, no more people to display them. He was ready. _

"COOPER WAKE UP."

Cooper fell out of his chair, scrambling about.

"BUEAH!?"

CASE and Brand were standing above him. Brand looked like she was about to lose it.

"You were sleeping, Cooper."

Cooper rubbed his head, staring at CASE.

"I guess I was."

Amelia couldn't contain it any longer and burst out laughing.

Cooper just sat on the floor, looking down, scratching his chin.

**Finally got another chapter out. Hope you enjoyed it!**


	18. Blame

**Chapter 17: Blame**

Cooper sat there while Amelia was hooting away, very confused. He had no idea where that came from. It wasn't like he knew Doyle that well. In fact, he **didn't**. How did this information make it into his mind? And why was he sleeping?

Amelia finally recovered from her laughing fit, wiping her mouth.

"While you were snoozing, we experienced another-"

"Anomaly."

She stopped. "Hey, no fair. How did you know?"

Cooper thought. "Just a theory here. I was just going through some files on my laptop. I hadn't realized that I had 'dozed off'. Before I did though, I had thought about what Doyle was like, and how I never knew him..."

Amelia lost all playfulness. _I guess things bother him more that I realized. _

"... And whenever I had dozed off, all of this information about Doyle flowed to me."

_I wonder if it is because he was a program a while ago... Nah. Probably not._

"And I'm pretty sure we can come to the same conclusion."

Amelia nodded.

"_The Bulk Beings."_

The conclusion had come from the fact that neither of them knew much about Doyle. Cooper knew that Amelia knew that he was a scientist, but thats pretty much it. There was no way, if she had known all of that, that she would have been able to show it to Cooper like that. Not in that way.

"What I don't understand is _why _they showed all of that to me..."

_**Because maybe we want to give you information you need.**_

"A-Amelia did you hear that?"

"Hear what? Did TARS tell a bad joke again?"

TARS turned around.

"Hey. That was uncalled for, Doctor."

She laughed.

_Am I going crazy? Lord, I hope not..._

_**No. You are not going crazy. I just wanted to talk to you.**_

_To me? Good grief, I'm talking to myself now..._

_**Hey, thats not very nice. You are talking to another being, not to your self.**_

Cooper's eyes widened.

_A-am I talking to a Bulk Being?!_

_..._

Cooper's question was met with silence.

_That. Was weird. _

He thought he was just hearing things, and brushed it off. _Maybe from a lack of sleep..._

"Anyway, Cooper. We need to set up some kind of communications here. I know we do not have the resources to create any type of satellite to deal with coms..."

Cooper could sense that Brand was getting panicky and agitated.

"...and what about places to live? Where will the population bomb liv-"

Cooper walked over and put his hands on her shoulders, trying to calm her down.

"Amelia. The human race has survived. We don't need the population bomb. It's just us. At some point or another, the humans will find this planet, on their own time. We are literally a living legend, and I don't want them to be here while we are still alive. Plus... I kind of stole one of their Rangers..."

Amelia looked at him, her face painted thin with agitated confusion.

"And to be honest, I don't want to go back, have a bunch of people look up to me as some sort of god... I just want to live out the rest of my life, with my own generation. I don't really want more big missions... I just... Can't I have this one my way?"

At this point, it didn't look like he was even talking to Amelia. Her confusion faded away, and that feeling she had felt earlier came back to her. She decided to let him get it out. All of this shit leading up to this point, it was a surprise that he hadn't already popped. He raged on about the farm back on Earth, and about the blight. He raged on about not being there for his family when they needed him most. He raged on about Doyle and Romilly, about why they didn't have to die.

What Brand seemed to notice was that Cooper pinned all of this on himself. He blamed himself for the blight, something that was out of his control. She knew what to do.

_SMACK!_

Cooper stood there shocked, mouth hanging open as if in the middle of a sentence.

"Cooper, stop blaming all of this on yourself. Your role in this universe is to exist and do the things you need to do, not take care of all of the problems in the universe. What happened to Doyle and Romilly was indeed unfortunate, but it was not your fault. All of the events leading up to this very moment can only be explained by this: Murphy's Law. What ever can happen will happen."

Brand moved in and wrapped her arms around him. _To protect Cooper. That is what my role is now._

"So please, stop blaming yourself for things that no human could have done or prevented."

Cooper put a hand on her arms. She could feel him relax a little bit.

"...Thanks, Amelia."

They stood there for a while, calming down. So far, everything was going well. They had a power source set up, and all they needed now was to explore and record. In Cooper's thoughts, a sudden question came up.

It shouldn't be _this_ easy. What are we missing.

And as if to answer his questions, a loud _BAM _filled the room, traveling through the floors and walls, vibrating everything that had atoms.

Cooper stumbled to the window and looked outside. What he saw made him wish that it had been a dust storm.

**AN: What could it be? :D**


	19. Storm

**Chapter 18: Storm**

**OKAY. Enough waiting, here it is! I am not dead, just lots of things to deal with.**

**Some of this is made up because I had an idea I wanted to put out. But I gotta write something, sooooo... Deal with it. Just kidding. If you have a better idea of how to do it, let me know!**

* * *

Outside, rumbling across the dry, barren, landscape, were massive cumulonimbus clouds, just about as black as space. He could see long strands of blinding lightning, dancing madly across the sky like a dragon about to plunder a village. What follows after the lightning? Thunder. The thunder was deafening, louder than the thunder on Earth. It sounded like a furious lion, preparing to rip out the throat of anyone who dares to challenge him.

"Amelia- get somewhere safe, and hold on."

Amelia's eyes grew ten times the size of Pluto when she saw the colossal mass rumbling their way. No questions asked. She nodded and ran to find cover. While she felt fear, she also felt excitement. The probes they had set out were going to be recording this event, and they would get more data on this planet.

Cooper grabbed a camera used to document plants and formations when they go out to survey the planet. He walked outside and looked into the viewfinder. Cooper laid his finger gently on the button and waited for a good opportunity. Just then, a tornado got lit up as lightning got caught in the swirling mass, looking like something from a movie. He took the shot and stared at the giant, frozen in fear and fascination.

"_Cooper! Hurry up!"_

Cooper shook his head and dashed back inside, closing the hatch. Just as he got in, the storm hit their area.

The wind blew and ravaged against the compound. It sounded as if a wild and very irritated pack of savage predators were trying to claw their way in. It was more than just a normal storm like back on Earth. If you were to think about a game, the storm was super charged. There was lightning striking here and there, the thunder was like a giant stomping all around.

After putting down the camera, Cooper went to find Amelia. He knew she would be excited. They would be able to find out more about this planet from this storm. He found her in the bathroom, sitting on the toilet. Just as Cooper had predicted, she was smiling.

"So, what do you think, Amelia?"

"I think that this is _great._ Hopefully we can get some more information about this planet and its weather cycles, or if there even is one."

Cooper nodded. "I am sure there will be some kind of pattern. We just need to wait a while longer."

There was some fierce lightning, and that gave Cooper and Amelia an idea. Lightning rods.

They remembered that before they had left, scientists had found a way to harness lightning. It was crude, and had a lot to improve on, but it was simple enough to make with what they had. They had to set up the antenna and attach a bunch of wires to it, wrapping them partially around the base. Then they would run the wires, suspended in the air, to a set of generators. When the rod gets struck by lightning, a part of the energy will flow through the wires, into the generators. By having the wires in the air, it will stop the energy from flowing entirely into the ground. The rod will disperse most of the energy into the ground, leaving the rest to the generators.

They sat there for the duration of the storm, talking about possibilities and numbers. One thing came up that really stopped the good vibes they had. Both of them knew that this was going to come up sooner or later. If they were going to make it, they were going to need supplies. The only problem was how. As it stands now, they did not have enough resources or manpower to make an expedition to find resources. The only viable option was to contact the Cooper Station. But they didn't know how they were going to react to Cooper taking the Ranger. More than likely than not, it wouldn't be good.

Cooper sighed. "Amelia, we are going to need to contact them at some point. I plan to take apart the Ranger for spare parts, so if I find a beacon in there, I will either destroy it or re purpose it."

Amelia looked at him with surprise. "You are going to take apart the Ranger? Why? That is pretty much the only vehicle that we can take back into space- Cooper, what if something bad happens and we need to get off the planet?"

Cooper walked over and placed his arms around her head, like he used to with his family. "When that time comes, we will deal with it. For now, lets focus on the now and not the later."

Amelia squirmed underneath Cooper's arms. "And _you _need to stop dwelling on the past, mister."

He looked down at her with quizzical eyes. He knew what she meant, but he didn't really think he had been thinking like that. Sure, he thought about the things he could hav-

_Oh._

"Uh, okay."

_I am terrible at this, mind thing. I guess Donald was right... AGAIN. I do need help. _

Cooper sat down next to Amelia and sighed. _How am I going to tell her this, and her not freak out? _

"A-Amelia... I need to tell you something..."

She turned and stared him directly in the eyes.

_S-shit. Here goes nothing._

"I-"

"Cooper, Dr. Brand!"

Cooper slammed his fist onto the counter. _DAMMIT, SLICK._

"The storm cell has passed, and it is clear out again. We can go collect the data the probes have collected when it's finished processing."

Cooper cut TARS a glare. TARS replied with a confused "what?"

"Thats great! I hope there is something we can learn from the data."

_I guess this will have to wait till later... _

Cooper got up and dusted himself off. Hopefully the probes would provide some information they could use. While they weren't planning on going anywhere soon, it was best to have the information ready to send at a moments notice.

**Cooper, always thinking about the inevitable, aren't you.**

_A-Again? Who a- no, WHAT are you?_

**Rude. I don't seem to... Oh well. A lot of time **_**has **_**passed... **

_What are you TALKING about? I want some answers. Cause if I got some kind of talking voice in my head, I will freak out. At this point... Its more likely that I am going crazy..._

**Harsh. **

_You are weird. But what's weirder... Is that you have no definite sound to your voice... Its like I am just listening to a bunch of voices... I can't pick just one..._

**Eh. That happened over a **_**lot **_**of time. And by a lot, I mean that you will never be able to comprehend that amount. At least... Not yet.**

_What are you talking about?_

**Hmmm... Well, I guess you could say we know each other very, very, **_**very **_**well. **

_What?! There is no freaking way that we know each other. You are a celestial being, and I am a human. There is no way we know each other. No freaking way._

**Denial is the first stage. Anyway, don't you have something to go record?**

_Wait-_

"Hey! Cooper! Wake up, space cadet. We have some probes to probe."

Cooper shook his head and stood up, a little weirded out.

"T-thanks, TARS."

TARS stood there silently, as if recording something.

Cooper grabbed his camera and laptop, then hopped onto the ATV. The furthest ring of probes were 7 miles apart and 38 miles from the base. The rest were inside of the outer ring, and Amelia would get those with CASE. The "sun" would set in approximately 16 hours.

"If something goes wrong, use your walkie talkie, or use CASE. See you later."

Cooper turned on the ATV, and was about to speed off when Amelia called out.

"Let's see who can get them faster!"

Cooper nodded. This would be fun.

"OK, Slick! Don't slow me down!"

"Don't _slow _me down, Coop!"

They laughed and raced off, the dust kicking up behind their wheels.

* * *

**Hehehe. Cooper stop talking to yourself, weirdo. You are going senile. Probably what TARS was thinking. Okay, hope to have next chapter out faster! Until then, enjoy! Sorry, this chapter was a bit weird. **


	20. Phantom Stare

**Chapter 19: Phantom Stare**

Cooper raced to the first probe site, smirking. Hopefully this would get his mind off of things for a while. He knew that Murphy had forgiven him, in a way, at least... But it still nagged him on the inside. He knew that he had to focus on this mission. He had known this for a while- well, there are a lot of things he knows about, but this might be his last "mission". There was no telling, but he had _that_ feeling. Cooper didn't want to tell Amelia this, she might freak out. Weird stuff was happening, and he didn't want to involve Amelia in anything that might be potentially dangerous.

_Well, I guess I failed in that._

"First probe in a mile."

Cooper shook his head a bit, and pressed on the accelerator. The landscape flew by, blurring, making everything into a streak of dusty red. They reached the probe, and Cooper hopped off. Instead of getting the tools to take the drive out, he just stood there, as if in suspended animation.

"Hey, Coop? You okay?"

Cooper sighed. "Yeah..."

"Well, lets get this done. I don't want CASE to have a bragging right over me."

Cooper just sat down, surprising TARS. _No witty comeback?_

"... Do you want to talk."

Cooper knew it was more of a 'we are _going _to talk whether you _want _to or _not_', so he nodded. TARS started to get the info off of the probe.

"Now, I know I am not a good pers- uh, robot? to talk with about these things, and personally CASE might be the better prospect. But you and I, we have been through so many things in the past like, 5 years, that I would understand you better. Anyway, I know you well enough to know something isn't right."

Cooper sat there, as if deep in thought. Sometimes TARS could not read what Cooper was thinking.

"Come on, talk to me, Coop."

He sighed.

"Slick, haven't you wondered why They gave you that Gift?"

TARS thought about if for a second.

"Yes, a few times. But my AI setting and such still apply, so..."

Cooper got up and walked over to TARS. He tapped the plate where TARS name was engraved.

"Hfff. TARS, every time we talk, you get seem more and more... _Human._ At one point, you asked me why I had kept you. Now I have a more direct and truthful answer."

This shocked TARS a little. _Does he mull over small, trivial things like that often?_

"TARS, I had noticed something different about you, even before we had gone into the black hole. It seemed like more than just a machine-user type of relationship. Something inside told me I should keep you. I agreed. I mean, we fell into a _fucking black hole_! And _survived._ Without you there, I probably would have died. You have done so much for us, even as an AI without the Gift. You are like, in a way, my best man."

_I should let him talk. It seems like he always has a lot of weight he shoulders around._

"I don't really know... Maybe I am just tired... Or like you said, _old._"

"Now, Cooper. I don't think it is that... You aren't THAT old."

TARS added in an uncertain laugh at the end.

Cooper waved TARS off with a dismissive hand.

"Don't worry about it... Was just trying to get thoughts out and sorted... Helps me relax when I know what I have in my mind..."

TARS kinda just... Stood there.

"Moving to the top priority is to get you onto a screen, so we can see what you are doing behind that 'face' of yours. Never know if you are making faces at us when we are talking."

"Oh yeah. Too bad you can't see what face I'm making now."

Virtually, TARS was sticking his tongue out, crossing his eyes.

"Probably right, slick."

Cooper knew something was going to happen. He didn't know what, he didn't know when, but he just had that feeling, that gut feeling you get when you just know something is going to happen. He couldn't get the feeling on if it was a good thing or a bad thing. Point was, it was a thing. He needed to stop saying thing.

There were a lot of... Thoughts on his mind. They finished gathering the data and sped back to the base. When Cooper and TARS got back, Amelia was standing there with a smirk on her face.

"What took you so long, slow poke?"

Cooper grunted and jumped off the vehicle.

"I dunno. Are you using magic again?"

She laughed and walked over to him, patting his back. What was he doing?

"Hey, Amelia. Can I talk to you? Alone?"

The other two robots turned around to face them. Of course, TARS was the first to quip up.

"Don't be making out, kids."

Then CASE chipped in.

"Make sure to be inside before dark. I feel a storm coming on."

Cooper and Amelia waved them off, laughing.

_I need to tell her what's going on._

"Amelia I-"

"I have been hearing voices in my head, and they aren't mine."

Cooper stood there still half sentence. How did... Did she already know he was hearing things?

"What kind of voices? What do they say to you?"

Amelia stopped.

"To be honest I didn't think you would believe me."

Cooper sighed.

"Trust me, I believe you. Because I have been hearing voices too. They sound... I can't get a grip on how they sound. But they keep telling me I know them. Which is weird."

Amelia nodded vigorously.

"Same with me. 'I know you, and you know me. We are really, really close.' I am just, really confused at the whole ordeal. Since we left Earth, things have changed so much, I can't seem to grip reality anymore."

Cooper thought for a few as she talked. Most of it matched up. Only one way to tell if this was what he thought it was.

"So, did they tell you things like... 'Everything is going to be okay' and 'live your life how you want, it isn't going to matter in a while'?"

She stopped talking and nodded. They both looked at each other with a knowing stare.

**WHAT DID THEY FIND OUT. TELL ME- oh wait. I am the author. Lol.**


	21. Laughter is the Best Medicine

**Chapter 20: Laughter is the Best Medicine**

After they had returned to the base and cleaned up, they sat down for dinner. It just consisted of dry bread, dry meat, dry apples, dry dry dry...

"We need to get those crops going if we want to live."

Cooper nodded in agreement.

"Yeah. I'm getting sick of your cooking, Amelia."

Amelia huffed, her face puckering up, lifting her nose to the roof.

"Well if you don't like it, then make your own, or, even better, _get out_."

They stared at each other for a few seconds and burst out laughing.

**Laughter is good, Cooper.**

He stopped, and swiveled around in his chair.

"You have _got _to stop doing that."

**Says who? Lighten up, Coop. Have some fun while you can.**

"Who are you..."

At the sound of the only other voice on this planet, Cooper shook his head as if awakening from a cat nap.

"Was it..."

He nodded.

"Well? What did they say?"

He scrinched his face.

"Laughter is good, Cooper."

Amelia giggled.

"Well you DO look like you have a frown permanently embedded in your features."

He waved her off, finishing off his dry bread.

"I don't want to hear that from you, Miss Allergic to Having Fun."

"Oh shut _up!_"

They laughed again while cleaning up.

"So, since that warning... I have been thinking..."

Cooper waited patiently for her to gather her words together.

"Well... Was there anything you wanted to do before we... Possibly... I dunno."

Cooper sighed and leaned his back up against the counter, gazing out of the skylight into the purple hued sky.

"Well, I know for one thing, that we cannot have kids."

He paused.

"Between us two. One, because it would be awkward. Two, because they took your ovaries out. And... We don't really have the equipment yet to do that."

Amelia smiled.

"I understand. But hey. We are the only humans on this planet. Wanna be..."

She stopped and poked at his arm.

"We could be king and queen. Rule over our very own planet. Our subjects could be CASE and TARS."

They both got a good giggle over that. Immagine TARS actually _obeying _them without any sarcasm.

"Hey now. I will have you know that I am a strong, independent AI."

TARS came wobbling into the room.

"Cooper can be my horse and I can be the knight in shining armor and come and rescue CASE."

Cooper just huffed.

"Nooo, Slick. You would smash me like a bug."

"Hey now. Don't talk about my weight. You know I am sensitive about that..."

Cue light.

"Well at least we should leave something here for any future adventurers. Oh hey I know. We could leave TARS."

Cooper caught on and played along.

"Oh yeah. And CASE. We could put them into the same computer and-"

"HELL NO. Don't do this to me."

CASE came in, doing what was the equivalent of sprinting in a small space, while yelling that.

"Do NOT leave me with him."

"I am not _that _bad, CASE. Give me _some _credit..."

Cooper recovered from his laughing fit.

"Don't worry about it now. We will deal with it when the time comes. But for now, we live for our own lives."

Everyone stopped to soak that in.

**That is a good aproach, Cooper. Go enjoy yourselves. Don't worry about the rest of the human race. They will live and thrive.**

At this point, Cooper had decided to believe the voices.

_They are right most of the time... Well... Actually all the times they have talked to us. But yes. For now we live for our own._

Amelia sighed.

"So, Cooper. What is the first thing on your to-do list?"

Cooper smiled and cracked his back, stretching at the end of it.

"Well... We should plant _some _crops so we can eat. Next up is to get TARS and CASE a way to access the main frame of the ship."

Amelia nodded.

"So they can bother us easier?"

TARS quipped in.

"That, is a good point. I will keep that in mind when you are asleep."

Amelia thunked him on the screen.

"Ouch!"

Queue light.

"Okay you two. Calm down."

Amelia puffed up and sat down.

"So, for obvious reasons, we need to get TARS and CASE into the ship's system. It will be simple enough, just have to have the time to update things and get the coding complete."

They all nodded/grunted in agreement.

"What about you, Amelia?"

She got up and made a dramatic pose.

"Well, since we don't have to work for anything, in a sense, I am going to figure that out later."

Cooper laughed.

"In that case, I am going to start working on getting the ground ready..."

With that, they all headed off to bed, laughter and good energy swirling around inside of them.

**Short chapter. But HEY I GOT SOMETHING OUT. Thanks for being so patient with me!**


	22. What's Your Plan, Stan?

**Some filler because I am taking my time on these next chapters... Things might be a bit repetitive but more than likely, its on purpose.**

* * *

_**What's Your Plan, Stan?**_

While working on her logs and filing the data by hand, Brand can't help but think of CASE. He had been in the _Endurance _for an extended period of time while they worked on getting the last Ranger crew together. Sure, he was powered down, but he had to have been recording the ships readings to send back to NASA. _What was it like up there, all alone? _

As if someone has been reading her mind, CASE saunters in.

"Hello, Doctor. Is there anything I may assist you with?"

_I swear he is listening to my thoughts..._

"Ah, if you could help me with digitally recording these logs, that would be great."

CASE walks up to the lab counter where Brand is standing.

"... Doctor, is there something you want to talk about?"

Brand freezes where she stands.

_... Stop it, CASE._

He laughed.

_Stop laughing too... It just doesn't fit with your... Personality... Leave that crap to TARS._

"I am offended, Doctor."

Brand stops again and stares him down.

"CASE. You have some talking to do."

He wobbles to the nearest screen and pops open his port cover.

"Cooper told me to come and do this, anyway. So this will knock out a few birds with one stone."

Brand weaves her way through the mess of files and boxes to assist CASE with his cords.

"It better. Or I am going to have TARS a-"

"No. Please don't. I will talk. I swear."

She starts laughing.

"I won't, I won't."

Once Brand finished putting the cords into the display screen, CASE started to run some kind of program.

"I will be back in a second."

With that, he shuts down.

"Oh. Great."

_He totally just ditched me..._

A bit of static crackles over the speaker system.

"...no I didn't ditch you, Doctor."

The display jumps to life as a familiar grey rectangle floats into the view.

"Hello, Doctor."

_What the fuc-_

"Hey, CASE. I see the program worked."

Another, very familiar voice comes floating into the room.

"T-TARS?!"

A male, probably in his mid forties, with grayish-light brown hair, calm green eyes with a spark of mischief, and a very set jaw appears.

"Come on, CASE. We did this for a reason."

CASE seems to sigh as his rectangular body is surrounded in bright, blue pixels. As they clear away, a younger male, maybe late twenties/early thirties, is floating where CASE had been standing mere moments ago. He is sporting the same type of uniform TARS is wearing, but it has a newer look. Jet black hair and piercing blue eyes accompanied his younger featured face. When TARS and CASE stand side by side, CASE is the taller of the latter.

_Two stark contrasting personalities._

_"_I think she is speechless. Not any surprise given how dashing I look."

TARS gave a slight chuckle, fixing his rimless glasses.

"No, I think she is surprised at how _stupid _you look."

TARS winces and pretends to be offended.

"Ow. Low blow."

CASE shakes his head and groans. He turns to address Brand.

_This is just like a movie... Breaking the fourth wall and shit..._

"So, as you can see, one of the Gifts They gave us was a personal network that only _we _can access, unless one is to have the code in them as well."

"As well as these sick avatars!"

TARS yelled from behind CASE, floating around, legs kicked back as if he was sitting in a lounge chair.

"Ugh..."

CASE massages his temples. Brand turns around as she hears TARS's voice floating around the room, like a surround sound system.

"Dammit TARS-"

Cue sigh.

"Doctor Brand, if you would pick up your tablet and walk with us, we will brief you on whats going on."

_My tablet? Why-_

"I can get into it and be with you while we walk. Just follow the idiots voice..."

_Oh my gosh. Their avatars fit their personalities so well... I get a feeling that Cooper already knew about this though..._

"Right you are."

Brand stops walking with an exasperated grunt.

"CASE."

"Uh, I was getting to that. So, with our Gifts, I kinda received the ability to hear _your _thoughts."

_SO THATS HOW YOU KEEP DOING IT, SHIT HEAD._

He laughs.

"Sorry, Cooper had asked us to keep these things confidential till the time was right."

_UGH. Coooooperrrr. _

As they walk, CASE briefs Brand and brings her up to speed.

By the time they get to where Cooper is, Brand was at a loss for words.

"I never realized that this stuff had happened... I mean I had known something was off about everyone, but I just never thought it would be this drastic... I thought it was just from stress, or something..."

CASE walks in to talk to Cooper.

_His back looks... So well worn. _

TARS was floating around on the large display talking to Cooper. They laughed and Cooper flipped TARS off, which only lead to TARS laughing even harder. With each laugh, Brand could see the features in TARS face with great detail.

_Gosh, if I hadn't known TARS was a robot, I would have thought those two were brothers or something..._

"Come in, Brand."

She walks in and sits down next to Cooper.

"So, keeping secrets, are we?"

He sighs and rubs the back of his head.

"Yeah... Sorry 'bout that. Just had to wait f-"

"For the right time, yeah yeah, I know. Just spill the beans."

Cooper tells her everything they know, about the Beings, TARS and CASE's network... And his plans.

* * *

"... and that is about it. Any questions?"

Amelia shakes her head.

"Surprisingly, I think I understand."

Cooper nods.

"I finally got these two metal hunks into the system. Just have a few more bugs to... squish, in a way."

He hit the enter key on the keyboard of his old laptop.

"And it is finalized. So, what are your current plans?"

Amelia sighs.

"... I am going to try to study the Beings... Don't really think I will get much, but hopefully I can get SOMETHING."

**Something? You know you can do better than just something, Amelia.**

"... Seriously, this is getting old."

* * *

**So, this kinda makes up for a small time jump between major chapters. See you soon!**


	23. What's in the Sky

**Ch. 21 What's in the Sky**

Cooper lays awake in his bed, playing with his thoughts, turning them over and thinking them through. With each thought came another, and with that, a hundred more. He sighs.

**They never stop, do they.**

"Oh, nice of you to show up, weird, strange being."

**Ow. Weird? Well... You have called me worse before. **

Cooper lets his face fall back into his neutral setting, with a dash of conflict around the eyebrows.

"I'm not sure I follow."

**... Don't worry about it, Cooper. For now, just focus on getting... TARS backed up and put into the bases systems.**

"... Why should I listen to you?"

**If you could see me right now, I would be shrugging. Not sure why I listen to the others...**

Cooper bolted up out of the bed.

"Wait, there are more of y'all?"

**Uhhh. **

"...? Well?"

...

Silence was what Cooper got as a response.

_Shit... So elusive._

Cooper changes into a grey t-shirt and throws on a black pair of cloth shorts. He sighed as he changed.

_I remember when Murph would play around in my shirts, pretending they were dresses and running around in the living room... Then she would make Tom be the bad guy and me her trusty partner and horse, Star Stallion._

He felt the feelings about to burst forth from their confinement in the small jar that resided in his heart. Only, they were not negative, but rather more... happy. This was a rather colossal change from what usually happened when he remembered things from, what seemed to be, milleniums ago.

With this new energy and upbeat emotions, he went to bed, closing his eyes with a single, happy, tear falling down his cheek, leaving what looked like a glistening trail behind it.

Cooper was interrupted at some point in his deep sleep by a voice calling to him.

"Cooper, hey wake up."

Groaning, he opened his eyes and yawned.

"What is it, Amelia?"

She seemed very fidgety and excited.

"You need to come see this."

"Right no-"

Cooper feels like he is in his college years again, being dragged out of his dorm room.

"_Yes_ now!"

She grabbed him by the arm and dragged him out of bed like a rag doll. She led him outside, where it was strangely illuminated for this hour.

"Cooper. Look."

He looked.

"... So this is what They meant."

* * *

**Ok ok ok ok. Since I am clearly taking my sweet time, take what I have done so far, its a short one but hey, I am trying! This isn't dead though. Thank you for those who are still sticking with me!**


	24. Even If You Have To

**Ch 22**

**Ngg. I hate reading my writing. It always sounds so childish.**

* * *

Sleeping in was very unusual, but they did so anyway. At this point, it was more like a very long vacation, only, they have no clue when they would return "home".

If they ever do...

Shaking her head, Brand mentally slapped herself. _Negative thinking will not help anything right now. Well I guess keeping tabs on the planet will keep me occupied for the time being._

Amelia, once fully awakened, got her head together and pulled on some comfy clothes. She had decided that even though things were going down a set path, it wouldn't stop her from being who she is, nor stop her from doing what she loves. Noting the lack of light from the outside, she thought now would be a good time to get some work done.

For once, Cooper was actually sleeping, and not like, doing Cooper things. Wait.

She silently glided across the floor to the big white dry erase board and popped open a blue marker. After a ridiculous amount of squeaking, she backed up to admire her handywork.

_Hah. I'm funny._

Sighing at the lack of coffee, she popped a caffeine pill and sat down where TARS was charging. While they never needed to charge every day, it gave them extra computing power while hooked up to a power source, just like a laptop. CASE and TARS had a whole system set up. The latter usually took the day shift of keeping things in order while the former took the night shifts. _I never thought it to be possible, but here it is, an anti-social robot. _She shrugged. _I can't talk much myself..._

Amelia began to plan how she was going to dig any information up on the Beings, since there was literally no data on them. Mesmerised by TARS's soft lights blinking at a set pattern, she failed to notice CASE approaching from behind.

"You are up early, Doctor."

She spun around, falling off of the stool she happened to be perched upon.

"_Shit!"_

Not bothering to get up off of the floor, Amelia lay there, staring up at the rectangular mobile computer. _Anti-social ninja robot..._

CASE, like mentioned before, shouldn't laugh. Not that it's a bad thing, but... It's still so... Strange.

CASE stood there, indifferent to the Doctor's reaction.

"Is there something on your mind?"

Amelia, who had finally decided that getting up was going to need more effort than she cared to give at the moment, nodded her head.

CASE, to say this, was suprised. When asked, she would always say something along the lines of "No, I'm fine." or simply just ignore that the question ever existed.

"Well, is there anything I can do to help?"

Brand nodded again.

_First time for everything, I guess._

"Do you have any information on the Branes or Bulk Beings?"

She knew it was a long shot, but decided to try anyway. Something about percentages...? or whatever.

"Hmm... Not formally on any records, but I know someone who probably does."

Amelia wanted to say something. A joke, just _something_. CASE had been with her since the boarding of the _Endurance._ He, they, shoot, it didn't matter at this point, and CASE had both decided that pronouns didn't really matter to them, and that it was really up to the user's preferences. So they all tended to switch between them.

"Give me a moment."

CASE went stagnant as he went to, presumably, talk to TARS. Instead of powering up and coming off of his charging port, he just popped up on the screen.

"Good morning, TARS."

"Hello, Doctor! What can I do for you?"

She couldn't help but smile. Even if it was in his programming, TARS always managed to make the atmosphere less depressing. He still does, in fact.

Oh, whoops.

Amelia rolled over onto her stomach still not bothering to get up, for the floor was cool compared to the hot atmosphere. Luckily, it hasn't gotten too hot... She prayed (to nothing in particular) that if this was this planet's version of summer, that the winters wouldn't freeze them.

"So, TARS, what kind of information do you have about the Bulk Beings?"

TARS opened a few files and studied them. In reality, he could have just told her what he had information wise. But just to make himself seem more human, which isn't far from an accurate definition, he "browsed" through the files.

"Hm. Nothing more than some data I collected while in Gargantua..."

_Oh... What DID I expect?_

"Thank you, TARS. Well I guess I should go-"

"Wait."

Brand stopped and turned to face TARS.

"I never said I _didn't _have any information."

_Wha-_

"Dammit TARS."

TARS lowered his head to chuckle. Such an amazing reaction.

"What I do know is that They are not here to harm us, but rather just observing us. They do what they need to and leave us be, for the most part."

_Well that explains a few things. _

"Also, as far as I have been able to research, we can't seem to communicate with Them when we want. They talk to us when They want to... But so far I have managed to hold some kind of conversation with Them."

_I guess I don't give him as much credit as he deserves. _

"So, can you send me some of the data you managed to collect while in Gargantua as well as the data on the Bulk beings?"

"Of course."

TARS collected the files into one folder and swiped them to the side. In less than a second, Brand's device dinged, informing her of a delivery.

"Thank you."

Amelia gathered her laptop and closed her door. Today was going to be all about research.

* * *

Even if you are not a morning person, there is one positive to waking up. That initial morning stretch. Not even opening your eyes, reaching up over your head and moving those muscles after a long night of rest, feeling those fibers in your body moving... There is just something so satisfying about it.

After performing that morning stretch, Cooper decided it was time to get up, and stop being a slug. _The farm needs to be tended... Got to get the kids up for school and finally get around to fixing that squeaky hinge on the dually's passenger side door. _

He could smell the dust and the corn field through his bedroom window. _Probably find out where that draft keeps getting in. _He sat up and swung his legs off of the side of the bed. Cooper gave a small jump to help hoist his body off of the bed and land on the wooden floors.

Instead of the sound of the squeaky floorboard, the one that always tipped the household off that Cooper was awake, his feet met the cold, industrial metal floor of the once _Endurance_.

His eyes shot open and he came back to reality. Away from the warmth and tormenting thoughts of his bedroom, away from the house that he had made so many memories with his kids, the farm that was supposed to keep them fed, away from the Earth...

Away, away, away...

_Not again. This needs to stop. There will never be a way to go back. Not not. Not ever. _

Cooper sighs.

And nearly falls off of his bed when that handsome and amazing voice so kindly popped up out of nowhere.

**Good morning, Cooper.**

Saving you from hearing the obscenities flying through Cooper's head...

"Stop. Stop doing that."

A chuckle.

**But that would take all of the fun out of it!**

"Well it isn't fun for the _other_ party."

A grunt.

"Anyway, I'm not ready to deal with this shit right now."

**Yeah, I know. Plaguing dreams, haunting memories, warm thoughts-**

"Stay out of my head. Please, shut up."

**Hmm. Can't do that. Actually, it's rather impossible. Because w-**

"Yeah, yeah. Celestial stuff and whatever- anyway cut to the point. You never talk to us without a real good reason."

**Yeesh. No fun at all. Anyway, you know what to do.**

"What do you- oh."

Cooper let that soak into his mind and let out a slow sigh. It isn't easy to do what he had to do.

Especially when you know when, where, and how you are going out.

* * *

**Oooh spooky. If you haven't caught on at this point, then that means I am doing my job. Anyway, it's almost time for the end. Stick with me!**


	25. You Do

**Chapter 23. You Do**

Everyone was gathered in the central hub, going over files and discussing, in great detail, what they had accomplished while here.

Amelia has collected data from the soil samples and roughly mapped out the terrain.

Cooper mapped out the planets and stars around the area providing quite an accurate chart, for the resources they have available.

CASE and TARS finished converting all of the data they collected into simple coding.

"Amelia and I just finished cleaning up the launch site. All that's really left is to do is finish building the rocket and then launch that sucker."

It finally soaked into the brains of those present. They are one step away from being finished with the original task given to them. The _Lazarus _mission was almost complete, and then the crew could finally rest, kicking their feet up at some ravine on the other side of the planet. Who knows. But all of those conspirators who stood at the corner of the streets yelling "The end is near!" are finally right.

Time was of the essence, and a change in the temperature of the climate did nothing to help things out. Whether or not it was from some kind of season change, they had to move fast. At the rate the temperature was going up, the margin of time to launch the rocket was steadily becoming very narrow.

* * *

Cooper shook his head, letting a sigh escape from his chapped mouth. His eyes had collected more bags than thirty old people combined. The past two months consisted of more all-nighters than a college student pulls off during a four year program. He couldn't keep lying to himself.

_I guess I should just review the facts then... No matter how grim they are. _

The planet was on a collision course rocketing straight at a field of debris left behind by another planet who may have met a similar fate. Most of the planet is molten, and the core of the planet is pulling them out of its course. There was no way to avoid the eventual outcome. They needed the last of the rocket fuel for the satellite containing a map of the surrounding system among other important data, which they were going to send on a path to the wormhole, in hopes that the space stations containing the human race will pick it up before it becomes too late.

"Cooper. There is something I need to talk to you about."

Cooper shakes his head to clear the thick fog that's been accumulating inside of his head for the past five months.

"Yeah, go ahead."

CASE pauses, seemingly afflicted with the topic about to be discussed.

"Well, the preparations for the satellite are finished and all that's left is to launch it."

Cooper shakes his head again, still feeling the residual fog clogging his thoughts.

"Yeah, I have gone over the flight plan several times, and it checks out..."

When CASE didn't say anything, Cooper stood up and leaned up against CASE and sighed.

"Look, CASE. For as long as I have known you I have enjoyed working with you. For some reason I feel that, when we go, we won't be done with our work. I'm not sure why but-"

"Sorry, T-TARS had something to talk to me about..."

It was obvious CASE had something on his mechanical mind that was bothering him.

There was an awkward silence that stagnated the air.

"I... I have enjoyed working with you too, Cooper."

Another long silence.

"But, I was here to talk to you about something else... I've talked to Doctor Brand about this already, and she has made a decision."

CASE let out a sigh, which made Cooper raise his left eyebrow a titch.

"When... When the time comes and... Well... Fuck it. Do you want to be put in a coma or do you want to stay awake?"

Cooper snorted upon hearing the ever so composed CASE say "Fuck it."

After wiping his nose from the snot that ejected itself from his sudden exhale of surprise, he pondered over what CASE had asked.

"I... I need some time to think about it."

CASE turned to talk out and sighed.

"Just don't take too long. Time is running out."

* * *

_Month till impact. Day of launch._

"_Okay. Awaiting your signal, Cooper."_

Amelia and Cooper sat in the safety of the base, sweating bullets. The temperature outside now averages about 96 degrees at the night cycle, and can get up to about 107 degrees during the peak of the day cycle. The satellite was ready to launch and there was no time to waste. Cooper sends the signal.

"Preparations are complete. Go for launch."

Since this was a crack job, anything could have happened. The rocket could fail, it could catch fire and explode, the metal workings could crack and the whole structure become unusable. It didn't matter at this point. It was absolutely necessary that this rocket gets the satellite into space. TARS began the countdown.

"_Ten..."_

The future of the human race depends on this one satellite.

"_Nine..."_

The _Lazarus _crew, while losing a majority of its members, still strives to complete its mission.

"_Eight..."_

Amelia sighed. "This seems quite familiar, doesn't it."

"_Seven..."_

Cooper grunts in agreement. "It does..."

"_Six..."_

"I have to wonder, do you think it'll make it?" Amelia questions.

"_Five... Starting engine..."_

Cooper sighs. "Don't jinx it."

"_Four..."_

The shell of the _Endurance _begins to vibrate from the rocket.

"_Three..."_

Silence.

"_Two..."_

_It has to work. It has to._

"_One..."_

The rocket grumbles. It sputters. It wheezes.

"_... Lift off."_

The rocket, to its credit, takes off and roars as it leaves the atmosphere of the doomed planet. It's a ghostly image. Since the rocket is made from the remaining parts of the Landers and the Ranger, it looks as if someone is leaving them behind. In a way, someone is leaving them behind. The Landers and remaining Ranger have been with them since the start, and it felt like saying a final goodbye to a very special family member.

The rocket succeeded, beginning its long trip to save humanity.

* * *

_Twelve days till impact._

Cooper walks around sluggishly to find CASE. The temperature outside has increased to an average of 119 degrees at night, and 127 degrees during the day. Going outside is no longer doable without wearing a suit. Several lights have stopped working due to the continuous heat melting the plastic components. TARS and CASE can still operate as normal, however they cannot hold a charge for an extended period of time. Earthquakes are becoming more common and more intense.

Cooper finally finds CASE, who is working on the cryobeds.

"Hey, CASE... I have my answer for you..."

_Five days till impact._

It's way too hot... The earthquakes are severe and the surface of the planet is starting to crack. The pressure is starting to increase as well. The temperature is starting to average at 239 degrees at night, and 250 during the day. The hull of the _Endurance _is built to take extreme heat, and is holding well. However, since they took out most of the insulation, the heat is slowly starting to accumulate inside. The sky is far too bright to look at without extreme eye protection.

Amelia is becoming more and more distressed. Cooper assigned CASE to look after her and help her when she starts to lose it.

Cooper himself isn't doing good at all. He continues to put on an air of confidence, but in truth, anyone faced with the knowledge of their own deaths starts to freak out.

We- CASE and TARS cannot hold their charges for more than three hours at a time, so they take shifts.

* * *

_Two days till impact._

Cooper and Amelia don their suits for the last time, wanting to get one last look at the planet that has housed them for so long.

"You cannot go more than ten feet away from the base. Otherwise we won't be able to watch your vitals."

Cooper managed to rasp out a laugh.

"Good to know... You're stalking us... Even though..."

The rest of that sentence did not make it out. Cooper and Amelia are in a state of severe health issues. The list is depressing.

Cooper helps Amelia outside after putting their sun visors down.

"_Be sure not t- look at th- sky."_

The gravity has started to take the equipment with it.

The sky is filled with things of nightmares. Or at least that's what they joke about. _Perhaps it's spiders._

* * *

_41 hours till impact._

Nothing is comprehensible.

Cooper looked over at Amelia and saw her saying something, but could not hear it for the tremors blocked out every other sound. It didn't take a genius to tell she was scared. Finding that he could still move, abate a little at a time, he made his way over to her and wrapped his arms around her in an embrace that would never let go.

"_C... per. A-l thi-gs are wr-p- - and re-dy to g-."_

The communications were getting ready to give out, resulting in a screaming static in between every word. Cooper motioned to the med bay and helped Amelia stagger to the door where CASE stood waiting for them. While the impact was still awhile off, the effects made it seem like it was already here. Cooper motioned to CASE to pick Amelia up, and closed the door to the med bay.

Amelia injects a vial of morphine into her arm, the dosage beyond lethal. Cooper and CASE help her into the cryo bed.

"_Ill... see... you... on... the... other... side..."_

TARS closes the bed and, once sealed, turns to Cooper.

"_I- been a g-at r-n, Coo-er. I'll s- y-u l-e-"_

The communications give out.

Cooper salutes to TARS and CASE.

* * *

_40 hours till impact._

Cooper walks outside, sitting down on a rock.

* * *

_38 hours till impact..._

Cooper loses consciousness due to extreme temperatures and pressure.

* * *

_Time of impact._

_The planets collide and the world is no more._

* * *

**Okayyyyy. Hope this wasn't like, super boring or confusing. Anyway, one more chapter till the end. -SC**


	26. What's Necessary

**Chapter 24 **

"_You don't know when you're coming back, do you?!"_

**...**

**Make it stop...**

"_Go away..."_

**...**

"_Grandpa died today..."_

**Leave me alone...**

"_See you on the other side..."_

"_Don't leave me!"_

**... Even in death my past haunts me-**

"_You are loved, loved by so many it's incomprehensible to a mortal mind. You mean so much, so wake up and-"_

"_This isn't going anywhere- Just wake up already, you cowboy!"_

* * *

"This is new. This is old. This is life. This is death. Everything comes to an end. And everything has a beginning. Instead of just living, meeting your needs and wants and then dying, you have played such a larger role in the never ending universe. _Homo sapiens, _the human race, with the help of a very familiar crew, made its way across light years and light centuries in a way not thought possible. I'm not one to bore people with perpetual droning, so I'll cut to the chase. While one's life may have ended, it continues in another way. Your story isn't done, and now that you know what happens, you need to become a shepherd and help guide your flock, nudging them onto the right paths, and scolding them when they do wrong. Well, I would say to hurry up, you don't have all day but... Well, you have infinite time, but don't slack off."

**Those are the words, or rather the message, I was so rudely smacked in the face with after awakening. Luckily, this job comes with my own three goons to work with. If you haven't already guessed what happened, well, I'm sure you'll understand later. Now, for the three others I work with... **

**One of them is a giant sassy smart ass, who we all have to work to prevent him from trying to rule over the human race, which he claims he "was only joking." We have him working on advancing human technology. **

"_I'm serious! I was only kidding! I don't have a small set of dialogue anymore!"_

**His twin is literally all of the traits that he lacks, so we keep him there to keep things in check.**

"_You're too loud, you know that?" _

"_And you're too quiet!"_

**The third of our group watches over the planets and making sure their ecosystems are in check. She hasn't changed one bit from the last time I saw her... She still calls me names. **

"_There was- is? Wait do tenses even apply here since we are-"_

**Me? I pilot the humans to their new homes. Everyone knows who we were, most regard us as the hero's of mankind. And some of them think of us as gods... Please don't. It's really weird. **

**And while we aren't tending to such matters, we are tending to other matters, further down the line. Sometimes we talk to the humans. It's really funny watching them react for the first time...**

**We have to go, we have a wormhole to place and a black hole to watch.**

**Anyway, this is our crazy story. But you have your own to tend to. Hopefully you won't be thrown into some kind of crazy situation or into a giant black hole, but if you are, we'll be there to help guide you along, and always be listening to you when you talk. You are never alone.**

**When faced with life, hopefully you'll remember our journey and it will give you the courage, no matter what the situation may be, to do**

** What's Necessary.**

* * *

**I'm so sorry if this was a cheesy ending. Thank you so much for sticking with me and I hope you have enjoyed the journey of What's Necessary!**

**I'm open for ideas or anything you think could make this story better!**

**Anyway, until next time!**

**-SheilaCalhoun**


End file.
